Hogwarts Chronicles - 1 A Muggle-Born in Slytherin
by LostPipersChild
Summary: AU It's been eighteen years since the Dark Lord disappeared mysteriously without a trace and only Dumbledore and his close circle know what really happened. Now, the traditions of Hogwarts University get a shock as a muggle-born with a strange ancestry is sorted in Slytherin and a shadow haunts its halls. Unless they're careful, the students could end up like little Harry Potter.
1. Prologue

**If you're looking for Book Two, follow this link.**

 **s/12117895/1/Hogwarts-Chronicles-Book-Two-Druid-Legacies**

Hogwarts Chronicles: Book One

Prologue 

It was March, and the weather couldn't seem to make up its mind. Since dawn it had snowed, hailed, turned sunny for an hour around lunch, then misted up and finally started to rain. A lone figure stood out in the downpour, apparently uncaring that his dark cloak was getting soaked. After weeks of searching - years really - it finally came to this. A muggle hospital, infested with the filthy creatures the Dark Lord so despised.

His informant at Hogwarts had sent word that the child had been born sometime in the early hours and that it had turned out to be a girl. With this information in the Dark Lord's possession, the protective charms around the child and her family had shattered. There would of course be other obstacles. Guards, for example; Dumbledore wasn't one to take chances, after all.

But the Dark Lord was confident he could overcome any minor obstructions with ease, especially with his prize so close. He set off across the car park towards the reception. Although it was nearly midnight the hospital was still ablaze with light and many people were still bustling to and fro in the marble lobby. Wishing to avoid detection for as long as possible, Voldemort cloaked himself in a powerful disillusionment charm and headed towards the stairs.

The maternity ward was on the second floor and as he turned into the corridor, Voldemort paused. There were a couple of midwives at the other end but they were walking away from him. A door halfway down opened and a young man emerged. He looked exhausted but pleased. He passed right by the Dark Lord on his way to the stairs but the wizard barely paid him any attention at all. There was tell-tale heat haze outside the door through which the man had come. It was a shame really, whoever was standing guard has cast an excellent charm, barely detectible. Such a waste of magical talent.

The Dark Lord dispensed with the witch or wizard and stepped past their body into the room. It was small and a little shabby, containing only a bed, a chest of drawers and a plastic crib by the dark window. Voldemort paid the red haired woman asleep in the bed as much attention as he had her husband. His entire focus was on the crib and its tiny occupant. He approached carefully and then paused in order to examine his prey.

Surprisingly, the baby was awake, and looking up at him with curious blue eyes. She gurgled a little as she kicked the knitted blanket covering her. Voldemort felt a surge of disgust. A mud-blood, why in Merlin's name did it have to be a mud-blood? For years he had waited for a true advisory to reveal themselves and then the Prophesy went and specified a mongrel abomination like this. He felt deeply insulted.

He pointed his wand very carefully towards the infant's heart. He wanted to see it die, to watch the life flicker out in its eyes.

" _Avada Kedavra!_ "


	2. Chapter 1 - Slytherin Will Help You

**Chapter One**

 **Slytherin Will Help You on the Way to Greatness**

 **Author's Note – If you're reading this, it means you've read the prologue and decided to carry on, so may I say thank you! This fic takes place in an alternate universe, so there are a couple of changes. Most notably, I have reimagined Hogwarts as a university (to avoid all the pitfalls of writing about hormonal teenagers to be honest). My OCs name is pronounced like the English word 'allow', it's a Welsh name which does have some baring on the plot, so bear with. Other than that, I've tried to keep characters as close to their book depictions as possible. Please leave a review and tell me what you think, constructive criticism is always welcome. If you want more information about the wizarding world then follow my tumblr blog,**

A mop of mousy, shoulder length brown hair was all that could be seen of Alaw Jones over the top of her brochure. Her eyes, which were deep blue, were hidden behind it. Every now and then she glanced out of the window at the torrential downpour outside. It lashed against the windows of the scarlet steam engine as it crossed the border into Scotland, but Alaw ignored it as she had her headphones in. She'd boarded the train at Crewe and the first carriage she'd come to that had had any seats spare was full of boys. There were four of them; three redheads and a chubby, brown-haired lad who looked a bit nervous.

Alaw had said hello when she'd sat down but they'd been talking about some sport or other which she had absolutely no interest in, so the headphones had gone in and the university brochure had come out. It had been glossy and purple when she'd received it several months ago, but she'd spent so much time thumbing through it that much of the ink on the cover had started to come away.

Reading and rereading the brochure had been the only thing which could keep Alaw sane since her birthday. Even now, as she sat there on the train chugging its way north, she still half expected to wake up in her bed at home and find the whole thing was crap. She was so nervous and exited at the same time she felt physically sick.

Because she was concentrating so hard on the page on front of her she didn't realise that one of the gingers was staring at her curiously. When she did he looked highly embarrassed at being caught.

"Uh, what?" Alaw asked, removing one bud.

"Sorry!" the lad said sheepishly. "I was just, what are those?"

He indicated his ears and it took Alaw a moment to work out what he was talking about.

"Just my iPod," she replied, flashing it at him with a smile.

The boy continued to blink in a nonplussed sort of way, so she handed it over for him to take a closer look. He turned it over and over in his hands with the same sceptical air Alaw had had when she'd been shown a sneakoscope a few weeks ago.

"It plays music," she felt the need to add and after some hesitation, the boy lifted a bud to his oddly large and red ear and listened for a second.

"Cool!" he said appreciatively and one of the twins opposite him rolled their eyes.

"Well done, Ron, you've managed to make a twat of yourself before we even get to Hogwarts."

Ron blushed and Alaw's smile spread still further. Ron chose to ignore the twins' sniggering and gave the iPod back.

"Anyway, I'm Ron. They're my brothers."

"We got the good genes," the twins assured her.

They introduced themselves as Fred and George, and after a questioning look from Alaw, the boy at the window said his name was Neville. This immediately spiked her sympathy for him - being saddled with such a name - a feeling which only increased when he added that his surname was Longbottom.

"Where did you get that thing?" Ron asked, nodding once more at the iPod.

"Last Christmas off mum and dad. It does other stuff apart from music, you know. Here," Alaw said, moving closer so she could show Ron the various applications.

He got very excited about the camera and spent a couple of minutes taking snaps of himself and the others.

"You must be muggleborn, then," said Fred or George – Alaw had already forgotten which was which.

"Yeah," she said, suddenly nervous again.

She'd been warned that some wizards didn't like people of her birth but none of the boys seemed phased. In fact, Ron was busy swiping clumsily through her apps while Neville watched interestedly over his shoulder.

"Must have been a hell of a shock to find out you were a witch, then," Ron said, now engrossed in a game of solitaire.

Alaw snorted.

"A shock? Bloody hell, I couldn't believe it! I thought I'd lost it."

"Weren't there any signs?" asked Forge.

"Oh yeah, I'd been having these weird dreams for months and months, and then I set my bed on fire in my sleep!"

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, looking up from the game he was already stuck on. Alaw nodded fervently.

"Gave my parents a fucking heart attack! They thought I was smoking in bed or something. But then someone came from the school to explain everything to me."

"Were your parents okay with it?" Neville asked but Alaw shook her head.

"They don't know. Charity had to tell them all sorts of crap and use a bunch of enchantments just so they wouldn't question me going to Hogwarts for university instead of my other options. Apparently you're not allowed to tell muggle parents cause of the bloody Statute of Secrecy bollocks."

"Who's Charity?"

"Oh, she's the Muggle-born Liaison Officer. I think she teaches Muggle studies," Alaw explained quickly. "She was great, helped me get everything sorted, you know, finances and equipment and shit."

She was speaking very fast, possibly because she hadn't been able to talk aloud about this stuff to anyone at all over the summer. To find herself in the company of four real wizards was a little dazzling.

"I made my nan's hair grow really fast overnight," Neville admitted. "When I was sixteen. I thought she'd freak out but she was really pleased. Meant she didn't have to use the wig anymore."

"Sixteen?" Alaw asked uncertainly. "My magic didn't pop up until I was nearly eighteen!"

She felt a little inadequate now, like she was somehow behind. Gred appeared to read her mind.

"It's common for muggle-born magic to appear later," he assured her. "It's cause you're not around magic all the time to trigger it. For us, who grew up with it, it usually shows with puberty."

"Right," Alaw said quietly. "Um, do you, do you think it makes a difference? Being muggleborn? Like, will my magic be weaker or something?"

"No," said all four of them in unison and very firmly.

"Magical ability has nothing to do with blood," Ron explained. "It's all about personal skill, and anyone who says otherwise is either an idiot or an elitist bastard."

This made Alaw feel a lot better and she even managed to relax. For the rest of the trek she and the boys chatted cheerily. Alaw couldn't stop herself from asking them endless questions about life in the wizarding world. She wanted to know if they'd been to secondary school but they hadn't. It wasn't common for wizarding children to attend muggle schools unless they were half-blood and lived with their muggle parent.

Instead, they were taught at home by their parents or private tutors, usually in small groups with their friends and siblings. Privately, Alaw felt some relief that she at least had an edge when it came to academic experience. She suspected that those who had been taught at the kitchen table their entire lives might find the rigidity of school life a bit of a shock.

The snack trolley came around a few times and Alaw put her new student loan to good use, going a bit mental on the sweets.

"Hungry?" Ron asked in amusement as she opened the first chocolate frog of the sizable pile in her lap.

"No, but I love these things. I've only tried them once – ha! Look at that!" Alaw exclaimed, giggling as the frog leapt from the palm of her hand to the door of the compartment.

As she pinched it back and swallowed it whole to see if it would hop around in her stomach - it did - Ron inspected the card which came with the frog.

"Dumbledore again, damn! I've got loads of him."

"Isn't he the headmaster?" Alaw asked, holding up the card so she could see it more clearly.

It showed a very old wizard with silvery grey hair and a beard which disappeared below the frame of the card. He wore splendid purple robes and a wizard's hat and as she watched, he waved cheerfully at her. Alaw waved weakly back. Moving pictures, who needed memes?

"Yeah, genius! Cracking bloke but everyone reckons he's a bit bonkers," said one of the twins.

"Oh, yeah, completely barmy," said the other. "But he's the best headmaster Hogwarts has ever had."

"Does he teach anything?" asked Neville, speaking for the first time in a while.

"Some of the advanced post-grad courses, I think," Fred or George mused. "Percy tried to get a slot with him, didn't he? Oh, he's our brother," he added, seeing her bemused look. "Ran for Head Boy last year and bloody well got it. He's been a pain in the backside all summer."

Alaw didn't pay much attention to the last part as she had just spotted something through the window which distracted her completely. Across the lake the train was chugging around, Hogwarts castle had just come into view. The twins moved out of the way quickly as she, Ron and Neville sprang across the compartment to press their noses up against the glass. It was a sprawling mass of turrets, walkways and portcullises. The three first years could barely tear their eyes away for the remaining twenty minutes of the journey until their view was blocked by a line of pine trees. Alaw couldn't keep still and tried to occupy herself by eating some more sweets.

Unfortunately, she chose something called Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and spat out her first one within a matter of seconds.

"What the fuck?!" she choked, desperately rubbing her tongue in disgust.

"Oh, that's crap luck, chili on the first try!" Ron grimaced as he peered down at the partially chewed up orange and red bean on the floor.

"Chili?! Who the hell thought chili was a good idea for a flavour?!" Alaw demanded and the boys sniggered.

"Trust me, chili is the least of your fears. I got a vomit flavoured one once," said twin number one and whilst Alaw winced, Ron sneered.

"Bollocks you did!" he said. "They don't do that flavour, the worst they do are snot and earwax."

Alaw promptly put the box of beans to one side and made a mental note to never again try them as long as she lived. It wasn't long before they had pulled into Hogsmeade station and all along the carriage they could hear people moving around, laughing and talking as they disembarked. Though Alaw started to reach for her suitcase, the boys simply left theirs and walked straight out. She followed them uncertainly onto the platform which was packed with students.

"What about our stuff?" she asked, wending her way awkwardly through the throng after Ron.

"They take that up for you. Once you've been Sorted they stick it in your room," he said over his shoulder.

He saw that she was in danger of being left behind so he reached back and pulled her free of the crowd and through a gap between two buildings onto a cobbled high-street. This was packed too, but not only with students. There were dozens of stalls lining both sides of the street and between these there were little side shows. One witch was blowing enormous multi-coloured bubbles out of the end of her wand for the amusement of a few small children and their parents, relatives of Hogwarts students no doubt.

Further along, another witch was walking up the side of a building by the use of some bright red suction cups attached to the soles of her shoes. Alaw stopped to stare at each of these performances, quite as enthralled as the kids, but Ron and Neville barely glanced at them. She supposed that growing up with such displays as commonplace, the novelty soon wore off. So as much as she would have liked to hang around and watch the old man pulling bunches of flowers out of his wand, Alaw found herself trotting along beside the boys as they sought out a pub.

"Can we go to the wand shop first?" Alaw asked.

She'd been bursting to say something ever since she stepped off the train but she hadn't wanted to show just how exited she was. Ron turned to stare at her, his eyes wide.

"You haven't got a wand yet?!" he asked incredulously. "Blimy, why not?!"

"I wasn't allowed," Alaw explained miserably. "The Ministry doesn't let muggleborns take their wands home with them before they've had any training, in case we start pissing around with them, I suppose. So, I have to get mine today, somewhere called Ollivander's?"

"Oh, I know where that is, come on, then," Ron said, and he led Alaw away towards the other end of the village.

They'd just reached the top of a side street, down which the shop was situated, when Ron was hailed by a group of boys.

"Oi, Ron! Come on we're going for a pint in the Broomsticks!" one of them, an Irish lad, shouted.

"Seamus, I'll be there in a bit, alright?" Ron replied but Seamus was persistent.

"Nah, you've got to come now, I heard someone from the England team is in there signing autographs!"

Ron's face lit up and he looked like he might wet himself with excitement.

"You are shitting me!" he exclaimed. Then he looked at Alaw apologetically. "Look, I'd proper come with you to get your wand normally but…"

He gestured longingly towards the lads and Alaw nodded.

"Yeah sure, go on I'll be fine. It's just down here, right?"

"Yes, come and find us later in the pub, ok?" Ron said, and he and Neville ran off after their friends.

Feeling mildly less confident than she would have been had she been accompanied, Alaw made her way down the alley. Ollivander's was a surprisingly shabby little establishment with tiny windows in need of a good wash and a yellowing sign over the door claiming they'd been selling wands since 382BC. Alaw stood outside and gazed up at the sign for a moment, the cogs in her brain whirring as she tried to work out what era that may have been.

It seemed an extraordinarily long time for a business to have survived, but, then again, the wizarding world didn't change as much as the muggle one. Realising she was stalling, Alaw pushed open the door of the shop to the tinkle of a brass bell hanging inside. The front room was blocked off from the back by a wooden counter and beyond that were rows and rows of slender boxes, stacked up all the way to the ceiling.

Alaw wasn't alone in the front room. When she entered the other customer glanced around with what was unmistakably fear. He was a young man, rather short for a boy, with white-blonde hair and a pale face. He was dressed in the floor length robes Alaw had come to expect from wizards. When she had first visited Diagon Alley, it had been quite amusing to see grown men walking around in what, to her, were colourful dresses. But by now she had gotten used to it. The robes the boy wore were bottle green and had handsome golden buttons extending all the way to his midriff, which was belted. Unlike Ron's robes, these looked well cared for and very expensive.

There was a very charged moment of awkward silence which was broken by a wizened old man coming in from the back room.

"Good afternoon, miss. I'll be right with you once I've served this gentleman," he said in a quivery old voice.

He then handed the wand he was holding to the young man in a slightly shaky hand.

"Here you are, Master Malfoy, this may be better suited."

The boy waved the wand but nothing happened. He looked frustrated and the old man sighed.

"Never mind, I'm sure it's the core you know. Are you certain you won't try something with unicorn hair? They make very fine wands, I assure you. You father needn't hear about it."

"Fine," the boy said grudgingly after a very long hesitation, like he was agreeing to a very dodgy deal.

When Mr Ollivander vanished into the back of the shop again, Alaw approached the counter and bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited. Naturally, she'd researched wands more thoroughly than any other aspect of the wizarding world since Charity had given the introductory books to her. She knew the qualities of the cores off-by-heart and she couldn't understand the boy's aversion to unicorn hair. It seemed a perfectly good core to her.

The boy was drumming his fingers impatiently on the counter and kept glancing shiftily at her. Misreading this as a wish to greet her, Alaw obliged.

"Hi," she said with an attempt at a warm smile.

The boy looked startled and nodded stiffly, with a fleeting twitch of the lips which may have passed as an unwilling smile.

"I'm Alaw," she persisted, still naïvely thinking it was nerves that kept him mute. She could totally sympathise with that.

"Draco," he answered quietly.

"Huh, that's cool, like the star?"

"I… suppose."

The conversation stalled and they stood in silence whilst Ollivander hummed cheerily to himself as he sifted through boxes. Wishing to break the tension Alaw said,

"So… it's weird being here isn't it? It sucks that us muggle-borns have to wait to get our wands."

"I'm not muggle-born!" Draco said angrily, glaring at her. "I'm pureblood! Now leave me alone."

"Oh, god! I'm really sorry," Alaw spluttered.

She felt mortified, but luckily Ollivander came back in time to save her from her own stuttering. Whilst her cheeks burned, he presented Draco Malfoy with a handsome wand of half dark, half pale wood and a simple design.

"Hawthorn and unicorn hair. 10 inches exactly, reasonably pliant. Oh, there you go! Didn't I say the core was the problem?"

A stream of red sparks had erupted from the tip of the wand as Draco waved it. He sighed and didn't look particularly pleased.

"If my father hears about this…" he said threateningly and Ollivander lifted one hand in a peaceful gesture.

"He shall not do so from me," he said reassuringly. "Now that will be seven galleons, Master Malfoy."

Draco kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other and the moment he had paid for the wand he shot out of the shop like a rabbit from a bolt hole. Ollivander now turned his attention to Alaw who still felt a little flushed.

"Now then, my dear, first wand is it? Excellent, I just need you to write down your details in the log book and then we can get you fitted. The Ministry requires a register of wand owners, you see."

Alaw moved down the counter to the enormous leather bound book lying there. There was quill resting on it but luckily, Ollivander had prepared for the influx of muggle-borns by providing ballpoint pens as well. After filling in her name, date of birth and address, Ollivander beckoned her over once more. He bent laboriously down, took hold of her chin between wrinkled thumb and forefinger, and peered into her eyes.

"Where might you be from, my dear? Where were you born?"

"Beddgelert, uh, that's in North Wales," she replied, very awkwardly. She wasn't sure she liked this one bit.

"Hmm, and in which month were you born?" Ollivander asked, now taking hold of her left hand and feeling the joints and pulse.

"M-March."

"Righto! That would be Ash then. We'll start with that and see how we get on."

The Ash did nothing when Alaw took hold of it but Ollivander didn't seem surprised. He said the wood that corresponded to ones month of birth wasn't always compatible and he didn't set much store by it. He brought out several other prospects and continued to question Alaw about her interests, academic successes and personality. It felt very much like an internet quiz. Eventually, after several failed tries, Ollivander stood back and gazed at her thoughtfully, biting his thumb.

"I think I know… A moment, young lady," he said, smiling slightly.

He fetched a wand of pale wood, with odd symbols carved into the handle. Alaw gazed at them curiously. They weren't runes, not Norse ones anyway, but they looked oddly familiar to her. As she lifted the wand from its box she felt a warm tingling sensation up her arm and the couple of green sparks shot out of the tip.

"Now that is excellent!" Ollivander said happily. "Hornbeam and unicorn hair, it's not often I hand these out but I had a hunch this time.

"Th-thank you," Alaw said in hushed awe, holding the wand like it was the most delicate object in the entire world.

She paid for it, using much of the gold she'd picked up at Gringotts Bank a few weeks ago in exchange for her muggle loan. As she left the shop she slotted the wand in the special holster on her left hip. Charity Burbage had encouraged all the muggle-borns to buy this wizarding belt when she'd invited them down to London for an induction weekend. Alaw had taken her advice and purchased this belt, which had attachments for her money pouch, potions vials and of course the wand clip, from a shop in Diagon Alley, the wizarding district of London.

It was still a little too early to head up to the castle and Alaw was eager to join up with Ron again, and avoid looking like a loner. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure where to find this pub they'd been talking about. They hadn't been very specific on the location and so Alaw found herself wandering around the village in confusion.

She was just standing in the middle of the main street having completely lost her way when she spotted someone she recognised sitting outside an ice-cream parlour with a tall glass of pink lemonade in front of them.

"Hermione!" she called in relief.

The girl in question lifted her head of bushy hair from the book she had open on the table. A smile broke on her face, revealing slightly over-large front teeth.

"Alaw, I was hoping to run into you," Hermione said, gesturing to the free chair opposite her.

Alaw crossed the busy street and plopped herself down with a sigh of aching feet.

"How long have you been here then?" she asked, glancing at the title of the book which Hermione had just closed. _Hogwarts: A History_.

"Just a few minutes, I've been in some of the shops and I thought I'd pick this up."

"Any good?"

"Oh, yes! Much more detailed than the pamphlet Charity gave us."

The two girls had met a couple of months ago in London. For her seminar, Charity had booked them a hotel - free of charge - on the Thames. Hermione and Alaw had shared a room and struck up a cordial friendship very quickly. It had been a fun weekend, because besides their trip to Diagon Alley, the muggle-borns had been free to do pretty much whatever they wanted. During the day they did all the tourist things and then spent their evenings getting hammered in the hotel bar. Hermione was by no means a big drinker but had opened up considerably after a glass of wine or two. Since then they'd been messaging each other all summer.

"I thought I'd see you on the train," Hermione said reproachfully. "I had to sit with these ghastly second years who took one look at my clothes and barely said a word to me the entire journey."

"Sorry, I got chatting with these boys," Alaw explained apologetically. "Were this lot you were with really that bad?"

"Well, they could have been worse, I suppose. Have you encountered something like that yet?"

"Sort of, there was this lad in the wand shop…"

Alaw described her encounter with Draco Malfoy and Hermione frowned in confusion.

"But if he's pureblood, what on earth is he doing buying a wand now? Wouldn't he have got his months ago?" she asked curiously and Alaw shrugged.

"No idea, it was well weird. Hey, Ron!"

Ron was walking past them with Neville, Seamus and a sandy haired boy whom Alaw recognised from the London Weekend.

"Oh, there you are, we were wondering where you'd got to," Ron said, approaching the table. "Did you get your wand okay?"

"Yep! Oh, this is Hermione, we met in London. Hello, Dean."

Dean Thomas nodded good-naturedly at them and Ron looked at Hermione.

"Why are you reading _Hogwarts: A History_?" he asked. "It's, like, the most boring book on the reading list."

"No, it's fascinating!" Hermione said quickly. "I love the history in the castle, I was just reading about the Founders."

"Oh, is there stuff about them in there?" Alaw asked eagerly. "Great, I've been trying to find out more so I can get my head round this Sorting Ceremony thing."

"O-kaaaay…" Ron said with an expression that clearly said he thought the pair of them were bonkers. "Um, we were going to head up now if you wanted to come."

"Sure."

The girls got up and together with Ron and the others, walked down the lane towards the Hogwarts grounds. They passed through a huge gate, topped with winged boars, and then across a grassy lawn. Down the gentle slope to their right, the black lake stretched out and on the left, an overgrown forest.

"Students can't go in there," Ron explained when Alaw asked what was in the forest. "It's like a nature reserve for magical creatures, but it's full of really dangerous crap so we're banned from going near. I heard they have werewolves!"

"Then what the hell is it doing near a school?!" Alaw demanded, glancing wildly towards the tree line, though there wasn't a werewolf in sight.

The drive became busier the closer they got to the huge, oak front doors and when they reached the steps, Alaw had to crane her neck to look over all the heads and read the sign pinned to the wood.

" _All first years to wait in the Entrance Hall whilst the rest of the school is seated."_

After fighting their way up the steps and finally squeezing inside, Alaw saw that the entrance hall was a huge and impressive room. Directly before the doors was a marble staircase that swept up and up. When Alaw and Hermione followed its progress with their eyes, they saw some of the upper staircases switch positions.

"Not exactly wheelchair friendly, is it?" Alaw muttered and Hermione smiled.

"Lucky wizards have found a cure for most mundane ailments, then," she replied.

To their right was the archway leading into the Great Hall and the older students were making their way through it. Alaw caught a glimpse of the end of four tables set for dinner but the rest of her view was blocked by the students and the wall. On their left there was another set of steps, this time leading down and there was an engraving of a snake on the wall over them.

"So do you two know the drill with the Sorting, then?" Ron asked, after most of the older inhabitants of Hogwarts had vanished for the Great Hall.

This left around a two hundred or so first years loitering in the Entrance, some in groups, some standing by themselves. Everyone seemed a little agitated. Some people were playing nervously with the handles of their wands – which, Alaw realised suddenly, she had been unconsciously doing as well. Others were staring at their feet or glancing around shiftily. Ron kept running his fingers through his ginger mop of hair and making it even messier than before.

"Uh, sort of," Alaw said, uncertainly. "Charity sort of gave us the basics, and I read what was in the pamphlet, but I'm still not exactly sure how the Hat is supposed to pick out a house for us, or why it matters so much."

"I've read all about the Founders in _Hogwarts: A History_ ," Hermione said at top speed. "And I looked them up in _A History of Magic_ , too. The Hat belonged to Godric Gryffindor."

She then launched into a highly detailed lecture about the Founders and their preferences when it came to students, still without drawing breath. Alaw wondered if it was a coping mechanism but it only made her feel worse. She already knew what the Founders looked for in their students and unfortunately, none of the categories seemed to fit her.

Gryffindor was out of the question. They were supposed to be brave, chivalrous and honourable, three words that definitely didn't describe Alaw. Hufflepuff also seemed unlikely because Helga Hufflepuff had valued students who were hard working and kind. 'Hard' and 'work' were two words Alaw rarely put together.

She wouldn't be too upset if she ended up in Ravenclaw. They were reputedly the brainy house, who ended up filling the ranks of Healers at St Mungo's, or the Hogwarts staff. Neither profession held any attraction for Alaw, however; she suspected one might need academic credentials to become the wizarding equivalent of an archaeologist, if such a thing existed.

And then there was Slytherin. Now, Slytherin appealed to Alaw in a way none of the other houses did. Its members often joined the Ministry after school, or became lawyers or went into the Wizengamot. However, Salazar Slytherin had always valued those who had a passion for their particular subject, and the ambition to take it further. Potential was what he had looked for.

Unfortunately, Alaw had been most disappointed to find that muggle-borns were not accepted into this House, and so her hopes of joining it were dashed. She found this deeply unfair, and discriminatory, but there was little she could do about it.

"Do you know which House you fancy?" Ron asked Alaw, as much to cut Hermione's lecture short as anything else.

Before Alaw could open her mouth to answer, they heard a snigger and, turning, they saw a group of boys watching them intently.

"Well it's hardly going to be Slytherin, is it, Ronald?" said a tall, lanky boy with black hair snootily.

"Theodore," Ron greeted curtly, "Do you mind? We're trying to talk over here."

"So sorry, Ronald. How's your dad, by the way? Still stuck in the Dead-End Department?" Theodore asked.

His voice was so posh and obnoxious that it made Alaw pull a face. Ron's ears went red and he snapped back,

"How's _your_ dad then? Been to visit him lately?"

For some reason this wiped the smirk of Theodore's face and Ron took the opportunity to guide Alaw and Hermione well away from his group.

"Privileged twat," he muttered darkly. "I swear if I get any crap off him this year!"

"His uncles would skin you alive, Ron," Neville warned. "That lot mean business."

"Yeah, but how much do you want to punch his smart arse face in? Just a little bit!" Ron countered.

Alaw glanced over her shoulder towards Theodore. He was doing what appeared to be an impression of a monkey, brandishing his wand clumsily. His friends were guffawing and they kept looking meaningfully at her and Hermione. A nasty crawling feeling spread over Alaw's skin.

"He's one of those people who hates muggle-borns," she said. She'd guessed it almost from the first moment he spoke.

Ron and the other boys saw Theodore's antics and immediately manoeuvred themselves to block this from the girls' sight.

"It's all bullshit," Ron said firmly. "Don't pay them any attention!"

Before Alaw had much time to dwell on the unpleasant feeling she was getting, a woman walked in from the Great Hall. She was middle-aged and quite tall, dressed from head to toe in emerald and sporting a crooked witch's hat.

"May I have your attention, please, ladies and gentlemen," she said in a crisp Scottish accent. "I am Professor McGonagall, deputy headmistress. We are ready for you now, so if you could all form an orderly line, quick as you can, if you please."

There were a few minor scuffles as people fought not to be near the front of the queue. Alaw, determined to be out of limelight, inserted herself between Hermione and Dean Thomas. Here she was well away from Theodore and his giggling gang. McGonagall waited for the various arguments to end before leading the way into the Great Hall.

It was truly magnificent. The four tables ran the length of the room and above their heads floated hundreds of lit candles, causing the golden cutlery and plates to sparkle. Alaw glanced dubiously up at these as they passed beneath them, and hoped there was some sort of charm in place to catch the hot wax as it dripped steadily down.

In looking up, the saw that the ceiling was enchanted to resemble the sky outside, now midnight blue with the odd tinge of orange still visible on the edges of the clouds. Several hundred older students were chatting amongst themselves but as the first years passed the talk mostly died down. At the far end of the hall there was a raised platform, and fifth table that ran horizontal to all the others.

The faces at this table were much older, so Alaw rightly guessed it was for the staff. She recognised Dumbledore from her chocolate frog card and jumped as he looked directly at her and smiled cheerfully. He did the same for a few other students but once they had lined up before the staff table with their backs to the rest of the school, their attention was completely captivated by something else.

A very tiny professor with fluffy white hair was carrying a stool to the middle of the stage. He set it down and regained his seat as everyone stared at the battered, manky old wizard's hat resting on it. For a moment there was total silence in the Hall before a rip near the brim of the hat opened and it cried,

"Let's have 'em, then! Where are my new minds?"

There was smattering of quiet laughter and McGonagall stepped forth with a thick role of parchment.

"Abbot, Hannah!" she called.

The Sorting was a curious thing to watch. As their names were called, students clambered up onto the platform and sat on the stool. McGonagall then placed the hat on their heads and stood back expectantly. Sometimes the hat shouted out a house in a matter of seconds, and sometimes it took much longer. As in Hermione's case, the hat kept her sitting there for well over four minutes before eventually shouting,

"Gryffindor!"

Alaw smiled toothily at her friend as she passed her to sit down at the politely clapping table. However she felt her heart sink somewhat. She had hoped they could be together in Ravenclaw, then she could have had someone to talk to.

"Jones, Alaw!"

Alaw jumped and looked quickly up at the staff table. She hadn't been paying attention at all. McGonagall was looking expectantly at her and with a nudge of support from Ron, Alaw mounted the dais. The hat sat there on the stool, like a deformed and ugly toad. She was very aware of her feet, and all the hundreds of pairs of eyes on her back. She suddenly wished she'd changed into her school robes like a few other people had done before the Sorting. She stood out like a sore thumb in her jeans and hoody. She kept her eyes on her laced fingers as the hat was put on her head. It was so big she wouldn't have been able to see all the other students had she looked up anyway.

" _Someone's nervous,"_ said the hat's voice in Alaw's ear.

It was not a pleasant experience; it was mildly itchy and Alaw twiddled her thumbs in order to stop herself from reaching up to scratch.

" _Why so twitchy, Miss Jones?"_ it continued snidely, _"It's only your academic future."_

What an irksome person, Alaw thought irritably. This was hardly the time to be making fun of her.

" _Well you're quite right, of course, good to know you've got a voice in your head. I get terribly bored sorting the mousy ones."_

Crap. Alaw hadn't realised it could hear her every thought.

" _Sorry,"_ she thought quietly.

" _Whatever,"_ the hat said dismissively, _"Now, let's take a look..."_

It muttered indiscernibly to itself for a while, quite a long while, actually. Alaw willed it to hurry up until it snapped,

" _Don't rush me, child! You've got a tricky mind to crack."_

" _I don't want it cracked,"_ Alaw thought angrily.

It was a lot more difficult to be polite when the person you were talking to could see your every thought in black and white. Alaw lifted her chin high so she peek out from beneath the brim of the hat but she ducked down quickly when she saw everyone was staring at her intently. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the headmaster watching with his chin resting on his fingertips. He gave her a kind and reassuring smile but her eyes still slid to the man sitting on his right.

For some reason the first comparison that struck Alaw was that of a spider. The man was, at a guess, about the same age as her parents. His shoulder-length black hair framed a sallow visage with a protuberant nose in the middle. The way he looked at Alaw – haughty and cold - gave her the creeps and prompted her to face the front again.

She kept her eyes closed for the rest of the Sorting, except when she glanced down at her watch every ten seconds. When five full minutes had elapsed she squirmed on the stool. People had long since started to whisper amongst themselves and the volume was creeping up.

' _What if I'm not a witch? What if it was a mistake?_ ' Alaw thought in horror.

Maybe she should just take off the hat and leg it to avoid any further embarrassment, but the Hat sighed heavily in her ear.

' _Oh for Merlin's sake, girl! Don't be so dramatic, of course you're a witch._ ' it said in exasperation. Then it paused for a moment before muttering thoughtfully, " _Merlin? Now_ **that's** _interesting…Why did you have to be a muggle-born eh? It would suit you so well! But it's not allowed, even with your bloodline.'_

' _Please! Just hurry up! Everyone's staring_!' Alaw pleaded.

' _Oh, very well, then! Rules are made to be broken, after all_.'

Alaw felt the hat puff itself up importantly before bellowing,

"SLYTHERIN!"

With a sigh of relief, the young witch took off the hat and gazed around for the correct table. The Slytherin table was on the far right side of the Hall, its green and silver hangings suspended above it. As she got up, Alaw glanced around at the staff but faltered when she saw them all looking at her wide-eyed. Charity had leaned over to her fluffy haired colleague and was whispering urgently to him. The greasy haired man on Dumbledore's right looked like he was in some kind of shock. And Dumbledore? He was stroking his beard and looking extremely thoughtful.

The polite applause from the Slytherin table was a little sporadic, as if people weren't sure what to make of her. McGonagall gazed at her with a confused frown creasing her forehead as Alaw handed her the hat. Alaw hopped down from the dais and hurried to sit down quickly so fewer people could see her. Once there, she pinched the bridge of her nose and shivered unpleasantly. That had possibly been the most embarrassing few minutes of her life.

Next to be called was Theodore Knott, the rude twat from the Entrance Hall. He looked extremely angry about something and he yanked the hat onto his head rather forcefully for an antique. Perhaps the Hat thought so too because it wasted no time in shouting, quite angrily, "Slytherin!" and Theodore practically stomped down to the table with a face like thunder and Alaw recoiled a little.

He shot her the coldest look imaginable and sat down at the other end of the table.

It didn't take long for Alaw to work out what had his knickers in a twist, as she recalled his words from earlier. _Well it'll hardly be Slytherin, will it?_ She may be treading on some toes here. She hoped she wouldn't meet this attitude in all her new housemates. It didn't seem likely, Charity had assured them it was quickly falling out of fashion and only very few shits would give them trouble.

Two female students followed Theodore and then someone Alaw recognised.

"Malfoy, Draco!"

Alaw lifted her head curiously and watched as the young man she'd so stupidly insulted in Ollivander's shop stepped up to the platform. It was strange, but Draco looked even more petrified than Alaw had felt. He'd gone so white he looked like he was about to faint and he lowered himself onto the stool with the air of a king kneeling for the guillotine. He closed his eyes as McGonagall put the hat on his head and Alaw frowned. She didn't know what he had to be so worried about but he was visibly trembling.

His was another Sorting that dragged out. After about a minute Alaw's eyes narrowed and she leant forward. Yes, the boy was muttering to himself and the hand clenched of his knee was properly white. What was the matter? He looked like he might have a fit, why wasn't McGonagall doing anything? She too looked concerned and when the Sorting passed the three minute mark she moved forward and murmured a question of some sort. Draco shook his head and said nothing.

"What's wrong, do you think?" one of Alaw's neighbours asked.

"Dunno, doesn't look well, does he?" Alaw replied quietly.

"He's been up there five minutes now, it's weird to have two Hatstalls in one year. Usually only happens once or twice a century."

"What's a Hatstall?" Alaw asked and she looked around properly at the boy.

He wasn't dressed like everyone else. His attire was a curious mix of wizard and muggle, with a set of dark over-robes, the kind that opened at the front, but an AC/DC t-shirt and ripped jeans peeking out from underneath.

"Someone who takes more than five minutes to sort, like you," he explained.

"Oh, right... Is that a bad thing?"

"It's weird but I don't think it makes a difference."

"Shush!" scolded the girl sitting across and three down from them, sternly.

There was a prefect's badge shining on her chest so Alaw faced the teacher's table again without a fuss. AC/DC boy leant towards her and muttered,

"I'm Cameron."

"Alaw," she whispered back over her shoulder.

 _See, this isn't so bad_ , she told herself, _you were worried for nothing_.

A moment later the Sorting Hat cleared its… throat, Alaw supposed, though that seemed ridiculous, and shouted,

"SLYTHERIN!"

Draco, still looking like he might throw up any second, wrenched the hat off and half ran to sit with Theodore and the small group who had gathered around him.

"Lots of Slytherin's this year," Alaw commented and Cameron shrugged.

"Well, he's a Malfoy, Slytherin was a given."

"Why?"

Cameron looked at her like she'd just said something very dim but didn't answer because the prefect told them off again.

The Sorting continued normally after that, with no more long intervals between students. The Hat seemed to be making up for lost time because it shouted out House names quite quickly now and the last Fresher sat down within fifteen minutes. As Hufflepuff welcomed its final newcomer, Dumbledore stood up at the staff table and people shushed each other. Silence fell over the Hall and the Headmaster beamed down at his students.

"Well then, may I say welcome to all our eager new pupils, and welcome back to our old hands. I have a few start of term announcements to make before the feast. Firstly, everyone should know that the Forest in the grounds is strictly off limits to all, and for those who seem to turn deaf at this point in my speech every year-" Alaw fancied he was looking at someone at the Gryffindor table as he said this, a twinkle in his eyes - "they should know that if caught again, mothers will be written to. Now, moving on, Mr Filch has asked me to remind you all once again that magic is forbidden in the corridors between classes, and that there is a ponderous number of items banned from the school. Should anyone feel an itch to check them, the list is tacked to Mr Filch's office door. During Fresher's Week, I don't expect any of you to keep the noise level down at night, in fact if it's too quiet here for the next seven days I will consider you all failures at youth."

People laughed in earnest at this, including Alaw who found herself warming greatly to the Headmaster. The twins had been right, he was a bit mad.

"However, once term commences I must ask that you be considerate of your fellow students after ten o'clock or so. Now I think that is all. All that is left to say is congratulations and enjoy your feast!"

Alaw looked around expectantly but there were no waiters in sight, or a buffet of any description. But then she jumped and her eyes widened as food simply appeared on the golden platters before her.

"Holy shit!" she breathed, gingerly prodding a leg of chicken with her forefinger.

"What's wrong?" Cameron asked and she turned her round eyes on him.

"Nothing, it's just, Jesus Christ! That's amazing!"

"Uh, what is?"

Cameron just looked even more confused and he looked between the food and Alaw who realised such a sight must have been commonplace in the wizarding world.

"Oh, never mind," she said sheepishly.

"Jesus Christ, I thought only muggles used that expression," said the girl directly opposite Alaw as she helped herself to steak and kidney pie.

"Well my dad would kill me if he heard me use it," Alaw allowed and the girl nodded thoughtfully.

"Strict is he? Mine too, he hates it when I use muggle slang. He really needs to relax, it's only words. I'm Flora, this is my sister."

"Hestia," supplied the girl beside her. They were identical twins, both dressed from head to foot in green.

"Your dad is stricter than _mine_ ," Cameron snorted. "He'll have you paired off before the season even opens!"

"Well it's expected," Hestia sniffed but her sister rolled her eyes.

"Maybe when father was young, but it's really getting to be unfashionable! If it was up to him and mother, we'd both end up with the first Flint or Yaxley that came calling!"

"They're both good families Flo, nothing to be sniffed at," her twin said reproachfully. "How about you? Do you have a prospect yet?"

"Uh…" Alaw stuttered brilliantly as Hestia looked at her questioningly. "What prospect?"

"She means a potential husband," Cameron rolled his eyes. "And give her a sec, Hest! We've only been here five minutes, none of us even need to think about that until we come of age."

"Cameron, shame on you! You know any proper lady will be engaged by the summer before her twenty-first!" Hestia challenged before turning back to Alaw. "Don't listen to this radical, he thinks he's clever being all modern. So? Do you have someone lined up?"

"Oh, uh, no not yet," Alaw said, deciding to play along for the time being even if she was frankly alarmed by all this talk of marriage. She wasn't here to find a husband, was she? Charity hadn't mentioned anything about matchmaking whilst she was at university. "I don't really know anyone yet."

"Have you not been introduced into society?" Hestia asked in confusion. "Even I thought waiting until Hogwarts had long since gone."

"Hest, you idiot, she's not Pureblood. Can't you see that?" Cameron said in exasperation.

But Alaw thought she had seen that. Her questions and confusion had a mocking edge to them, like she was doing it to deliberately highlight Alaw's uninformed nature. Or maybe she was being paranoid.

"Oh, of course. No self-respecting Pureblood dresses like a muggle except you, Cam," Flora laughed, "How's that rebellion working for you?"

"Oh, shut up. Go and suck bubotubers. So, what's your last name again?"

Cameron directed this last at Alaw who swallowed. Well, she'd have to admit it eventually.

"Jones," she said slowly. "But, um, I'm not half-blood."

"What, you're Pureblood?" Flora said in astonishment. "Well, I'm sorry but I would never have guessed."

"No, no I'm… muggle-born."

Silence followed this statement until Cameron gave a short laugh.

"Heh, very funny, but seriously is it your mother or father? When were they at Hogwarts?"

"No, I'm really muggle-born. Both my parents are Muggles."

"But they can't be!" Hestia declared. She was frowning at Alaw like she thought she was being deliberately disagreeable. "One of them has to be magical. The Sorting Hat wouldn't put a muggle-born in Slytherin, it can't. Don't you know Salazar Slytherin hated their type?"

"I know all that," Alaw said patiently, though she didn't care at all for the 'their type' comment. "The Sorting Hat couldn't make its mind up. That's why it took so long to decide, it really wanted to put me here but it kept trying to find a loop-hole in the rule."

"There is no loop-hole," Hestia insisted. "Slytherin is Pureblooded, with the occasional half-blood who shows potential."

"Are you absolutely sure you don't have any magical relatives?" Cameron pressed, a little less aggressively that Hestia. "An aunt or an uncle maybe? Or a grandparent?"

"No one that I know about. But, all muggle-borns are descended from wizards somewhere along the line, aren't they? The gene has to come from somewhere, surely."

"From _Squibs_ usually," Hestia said, in a low voice like it was a dirty word.

Alaw didn't know what else to say so stayed shtum for the moment, in case she said something stupid. The other three were looking at her with varying degrees of scrutiny. Flora looked merely perplexed, and Cameron was frowning like he was trying to think of a reasonable explanation. Hestia however was screwing up her nose as if she could make it not so.

"This is not right!" she snapped irritably. "The Sorting Hat can't just start ignoring the rules! It'll ruin the reputation of Slytherin House!"

"Quiet, Hest, you're being rude." her sister muttered.

" _I'm_ being rude?!" Hestia exclaimed. "What about her?! It's against the rules. Papa wouldn't stand for it."

"I can move if you want?" Alaw cut in, trying hard to sound offended rather than mortified.

"No, stay here." Cameron said quickly though Hestia shot him a nasty look. "We were just surprised that's all. Sorry."

"It's not that big of a deal, is it? Really? It's the twenty-first century for goodness sake!" Alaw said, an edge of desperation in her voice.

Cameron and Flora exchanged looks and the latter squirmed.

"Well…" she hesitated. "Some people won't mind, especially if they're half-blood. But… well, the old lot don't like change. At all."

"Which ones are the old ones?"

"The old families. Technically we're old blood; Carrows and Boyles," she nodded to Cameron. "But we're once or twice removed from the main branch of the families. It's really that lot you've got to watch out for."

She gesture down the length of the table at the rest of the house, more specifically the older students.

"Nah, I think she's got more to worry about from the Old Lot Jr. They're in the same year as us, after all." Cameron mused.

He pointed discreetly in the other direction to the end of the table closest to the staff. It was where Theodore appeared to be holding court. Alaw remembered Neville's words of caution to Ron in the entrance hall when he'd expressed a fear of Theodore's uncles.

"What do you think they'll do?" Alaw asked, her eyes on the group.

She dropped her gaze when Theodore glanced her way and his glare cut her like razors.

"Well, they won't be happy, let's put it that way," Flora said grimly. "They'll probably make one hell of a fuss."

"They won't actually attack me, will they?"

"I doubt it, they'd never get away with it. But if I were you, I'd request a transfer to another house, make life easier for everyone." Cameron suggested fervently.

Although not as openly unpleasant as Hestia, Flora and Cameron both had an awkward edge to their words, not exactly friendly. After that the subject was dropped and the conversation turned to less inflammatory things. They spoke about scandals in 'society' and returned again to marriage plans. This effectively shut Alaw out of the talk as she had no idea who the people they name dropped were or what the deal was with finding a fiancée.

She just kept her head down and picked at her food. Despite having been quite hungry before, and the appealing look of the feast, she ate very little. Why had the Sorting Hat put her in Slytherin? It must have known it wasn't allowed, and yet it did anyway. Perhaps it was being deliberately scandalous, like it wanted to shake things up a bit. Well, next time it decided to play its little games, it could bloody well leave her out of them.


	3. Chapter 2 - Where Dwell the Brave

**Chapter Two**

 **Where Dwell the Brave at Heart**

Pudding was a long and tedious affair. Though the chocolate gateaux was especially melt-in-the-mouth gorgeous, Alaw couldn't wait for the feast to be over. Her presence in the group was making the conversation awkward and rather forced and she hated every second of it. The others had exhausted the subject of 'society' gossip and had been forced to turn to topics that inevitably required Alaw's contribution.

It wasn't so bad when Cameron was talking, which he did a lot, and Alaw offered a small side comment, but if she said anything more substantial Hestia would glower at her. Her long fringe meant she looked like an angry crab, peeking out from under its shell every time she did this. Flora was more cordial but mainly addressed herself to Cameron.

At long last, the scraps vanished from the plates leaving them perfectly clean and sparkling once more.

"Wish I had that at home, I'd never have to wash up again," Alaw said but only Cameron forced a half laugh. Hestia raised an eyebrow.

"You wash up by hand? Oh, what am I saying, of course you do," she said imperiously.

This time Alaw glared at her. There was a difference between being quietly uncomfortable, and downright rude. Fortunately the bossy Prefect who'd shushed them during the Sorting Ceremony stood up at that point.

"Alright first years, just follow me down to the common room and we can get you settled in before everyone heads out."

Alaw extracted herself with some difficulty from the bench and had to skip to catch up with Cameron who had pulled ahead already. But he kept going at an unnaturally fast pace and she soon lost him in the throng.

"Ouch, hey!" Alaw cried indignantly as someone shoved her forcefully out of the way and she nearly smacked her head on the door-post to the Entrance Hall.

Rubbing her bruised shoulder she scowled at Theodore Knott's retreating back. She was promptly shoved aside several more times as his friends followed. Only Draco Malfoy stepped around her, as though he didn't want to touch her.

Still making a disgruntled face, Alaw hurried to tack herself onto the back of the crowd flowing across the Hall towards an archway opposite the Great Hall. It led to a set of steps going down and the temperature dipped the lower they went. When they reached the bottom they came to a wide corridor lit by torches and lined with statues of snakes. Their Prefect guide turned left and they followed her into an adjoining chamber through yet another archway.

She turned to face them once she'd reached the head of the chamber which sported nothing but a blank stretch of wall. Once the fifty or so first years had formed a crowd in front of her, filling the chamber, she cleared her throat for silence.

"Right then, this is the common room entrance. Please don't forget where it is. The password for Fresher's week is just 'Slytherin' so no one forgets it, but after that it'll change on a bimonthly basis and you'll have to check the notice board for the new pass, okay?"

There were nods all round and she turned to the wall.

"Slytherin," she said clearly.

The bricks shivered and dust fell from them as they parted like the red sea. Alaw managed not to gasp this time as she had seen the entrance to Diagon Alley do the same. She would have to keep a wraps on her astonishment whenever she saw something magical from now on if she wanted to avoid any further embarrassment.

She waited until her fellows had shuffled through the opening before following them. The bricks closed behind her with a soft scraping of mortar. The Slytherin common room was a spacious room with a low ceiling, two fireplaces burning opposite each other halfway down the walls, and plenty of black leather armchairs and sofas.

The rugs coving the stone floor and the emerald hangings on the walls didn't completely disguise the fact that it wasn't a particularly comfortable room, or warm either. Alaw wished she was wearing a jacket and she edged surreptitiously towards one of the fires.

"Okay, just a few introductions and then I'll let you all go. I'm Jemima Farley, and if you have any problems in the first few weeks just come to me and I'll see what I can do. If I'm not around then there's usually a Prefect somewhere in the common room. Obviously there's no curfew, but as the Headmaster already said, anyone making a racket in the early hours is an arsehole and will feel my wroth."

There were titters and Alaw smiled briefly.

"Girls rooms tend to be down the left hand side of the corridor, boys down the right, and I'll just show you the bathrooms now."

She took a side passage beside the fireplace and they all shuffled awkwardly after her. As she had said, there were doors at regular intervals on either side of the corridor, some of which had been adorned with the personal effects of the occupants. At the end of the passage there were two large archways, but the way the walls curved made it impossible to see any further inside.

"Men's. Women's," Jemima said in a bored voice, gesturing to each. "As you can expect, you can't go into the girl's if you are a boy and vica versa. Don't even bother trying, there are some pretty heavy enchantments on them."

 _What if you're transgender?_ Alaw thought to herself quietly. This place wasn't exactly as modern as she would have expected a university to be.

After a lightning speed tour of the facilities, they returned to the central common room and had to line up into front of a sign up desk. When they reached it they filled in their details, and were told their assigned room number.

There weren't however, given keys. Instead they were told to tap the handle of their door with their wands, and the spell on the lock would then only respond to their command. Feeling exited to try out magic for the first time, Alaw set off in search of room seven. Luckily it was on the first passage, close to the bathroom. As other students went past her on their way to the lower levels and the network of rooms down there, Alaw withdrew her wand.

As she tapped the brass door knob, it and the tip of her wand glowed purple and a ripple crossed the frame. Grinning, Alaw turned the handle but sensed that someone was watching her. Turning, she saw Theodore Knott, and one of his beefier friends standing by the archway to the boy's bathroom. They didn't approach her or say anything but she shivered and disappeared inside before the stream of witnesses thinned.

Her room was much larger than she had expected it to be, but still with little floor space because of the four-poster bed taking up much of it. The wood was black and Alaw reached out to stroke the green velvet hangings. The place was lit by candles floating above her head, half a dozen of them. They looked to be magical because they gave off far more light, and heat, than ordinary tappers would. Besides the bed, there were bedside tables, an antique wardrobe and a desk in the corner beside the wide window.

When she first glanced out of this she thought it had grown so dark she couldn't see anything, but then she jumped as she noticed a swirl of bubbles. The window looked directly out into black water, presumably the Great Lake she'd seen earlier. Crossing to it, Alaw knelt on the window seat and craned her neck to peer out into the eerie environment. A faint current was barely visible and she couldn't wrench her eyes away for several moments.

Somewhat unsettled by the thought of hundreds of tons of freezing water pressed up again the thin layer of glass, Alaw forced herself to forget it and went to plop down on the bed instead. Someone had brought her luggage in during the feast and it now sat at the foot of the mattress. Alaw didn't immediately move to start unpacking, she wanted to just sit there and contemplate quietly where she was.

"I'm at wizard school," she whispered aloud. "I've got a wand, and I'm going to learn magic."

A wide grin cracked on her face and she sighed happily. Who cared if one or two snobs didn't think she belonged here? She was at freaking Hogwarts! And she had been chosen for its most prestigious house, no less. Pride swelled up in her chest until she could hardly contain it. She wanted to call her parents right away and tell them all about it, and even starting fumbling for her phone, until she remembered muggle technology didn't work inside the grounds.

Charity had assured the muggle-borns that they could send letters to their families and it wouldn't seem strange, due to the strength of the confundus charm she had placed upon them, but it just wasn't the same. Alaw hadn't been at all happy about messing with her parents' minds, it seemed dodgy, but with a mum and dad as nosy as hers, it was probably for the best.

And besides, this wasn't the time to be writing letters. She jumped up to unzip her suitcase and start putting things in order. She had brought remarkably few clothes considering she was moving away from home and would be here for most of the year, but she had been warned that, whilst it wasn't breaking any rules to wear muggle clothes in her leisure time, it would draw attention to her.

It had been recommended they bring things to wear underneath their school robes, and to buy new week-end attire. This seemed highly unfair on people coming from disadvantaged backgrounds but Charity had urged them to have a private word with her if they needed any financial help. As it so happened, Alaw had been given some cash by her relatives as a reward for getting into university, and she'd been saving since her birthday.

Now the converted savings were sitting comfortably in the pouch at the bottom of her bag and she had made plans with Hermione to spend an afternoon of that week shopping in the village. So with so few possessions, it didn't take too long for her to empty her case and the backpack and slide them under the bed.

She was just arranging her books on the desk (novels on the left, textbooks on the right) when she heard people out in the corridor again. The chatter in the rooms on either side of hers had increased over the past five minutes and Alaw crossed to the door in order to investigate. Poking her nose cautiously around the frame, she saw many students flitting in and out of each other's rooms in states a varying excitement.

They were dressed differently now, in fancier, more colourful robes. The girls in particular seemed to be more dolled up than they had been at the Sorting. Some of them had already started drinking and music and laughter drifted across the corridor from an open door. It sounded like fairly modern rock pop to Alaw.

She smiled and withdrew her head. She'd expected things to loosen up once people had settled and opened a bottle or two of wine. Hestia was clearly just very old-fashioned, everyone else didn't seem all that different from muggle young people. Remembering what Jemima had said about people going out to the village, Alaw hurried back to the wardrobe and considered what to wear. She didn't own any wizarding clothes yet apart from her school robes – so she settled for a black dress which reached her mid-tight which she thought wouldn't attract too much attention to herself.

She wished she could go and pre-drink in someone else's room, or else, invite people into hers. But everyone all seemed to know each other already and she wasn't nearly drunk enough yet to try mingling. Besides, it wasn't even nine o'clock yet. To spin things out she tried doing something different with her hair and when that failed she played with the concept of make-up.

When she could no longer hide in her room and after pounding a shot or two of vodka for Dutch courage, she ventured out into the common room. It was very busy, no one was standing around in groups as she had expected them to. Instead everyone seemed on the verge of leaving, calling to each other to hurry and searching their bags and pockets for wallets and watches. Alaw sunk onto the sofa and looked around for someone who looked friendly enough to attach herself to. Then she spotted Cameron on his way to the exit.

"Hey, Cameron!" she called, standing up quickly and trying to catch up with him.

She'd thought he'd turned and seen her but clearly he hadn't because a moment later he had hurried out of the hole in the wall. Hoping she could still catch him, Alaw squirmed her way through the crowd - nearly getting someone else's drink all down her front in the process - and jumped out too. People were hanging around here too but she didn't recognise any of them.

She glanced at her watch with a frown. It was only quarter to ten, what was the hurry? Was there some party she hadn't heard about going on? With a hasty step Alaw made for the stairs and soon found herself back in the Entrance Hall. People from other houses were milling around and, keeping an eyes out for the new Gryffindor lot, she left the castle.

It had started to drizzle a little but, not to be defeated by a smidge of rain, Alaw pulled up her hood and set off for Hogsmeade. The walk wasn't as pleasant in the dark but there were still plenty of others on the path which was lit with lanterns and small, fluttering lights which looked like fairies. Alaw tried stopping to get a better look at them but they were too fast to observe and in doing this she got in people's way.

"Excuse me," said a voice behind her.

"Oh, sorry," she said and stepped to one side.

It was only then that she saw the speaker was the boy from Ollivander's, Draco Malfoy. He didn't really look at her and nodded in thanks before being on his way. He seemed to have fallen behind a group of loud friends.

Well, he was a lot more polite when he didn't know who he was talking to. It was probably best to stay well out of his and his party's way as much as was humanly possible that evening. So when they entered the high-street and turned into a club with pulsing lights, Alaw went in the opposite direction and found herself on the doorstep of a crowded and rowdy pub.

The sign over the door named it as The Three Broomsticks, the pub Ron had been so eager to go to earlier that afternoon. Though she still hadn't found Cameron or Flora, the worsening rain drove Alaw inside. It was warm and steamy, enough so that Alaw could take off her coat and hang it over the crook of her arm.

The place was absolutely packed with Hogwarts students, most of whom were sitting about the scrubbed wooden tables and the giant fireplace. The long oak bar was staffed by four men and women who were rushed off their feet trying to fill the orders of the clamouring students and Alaw tacked herself onto the back of the vague queue to be served, thinking it would give her enough time to look for a companion.

She found one within about five seconds of joining the crowd because no sooner had she glanced down from the chalkboard menu above the bar, did she find Hermione standing beside her.

"Hermione!" she cried loudly. Her outburst was noticed by few given how noisy the place was already but Hermione jumped out of her skin.

"Alaw! Thanks goodness, I've lost the people I came down with, I was about to go home," she said in relief.

"What?! Nah, stay out, we'll have a blast. It's our first night of university," Alaw said firmly. "Who are you with?"

"Oh, just some girls from the rooms next to mine," Hermione explained. She didn't sound too enthusiastic and she leant in to mutter, "Actually, I'm quite glad I lost them, they're a bit… gossipy, which is no fun when you don't know anyone!"

"I know what you mean. The lot I was sitting with at dinner kept going on about all these people and families I clearly had never heard of. It's all a bit clan-like isn't it?"

"Yes, I thought so too. But well done on getting into Slytherin, I'm a bit jealous, I thought muggle-borns would never get a chance!"

"Yeah, well, thanks," Alaw said as modestly as she could manage. Now she was out of the company of her fellow Slytherins, the feeling of smug pride was creeping back. "But I don't think it's going to go down too well. I got some very odd looks at dinner."

"Not unfriendly, surely?" Hermione ventured anxiously and Alaw thought about it.

"Well, not from everyone," she decided. "Mostly I think people were just surprised. So what's Gryffindor like? Have you got a nice room?"

The girls chattered until they managed to force their way close enough to bar to be served.

"What'll it be?" the barmaid asked as she took some dirty glasses and put them out of sight.

"Gillywater," Alaw said, picking the first thing she saw on the chalkboard. She didn't recognise any of them anyway.

"Me too," Hermione added.

When their drinks came the girls tried to find somewhere to sit, and Alaw spotted a knot of boys sitting close to the fire. She tapped Hermione on the shoulder and gestured towards them.

"There's Ron," she pointed out, "Come on, he seemed nice enough earlier."

They timed their approach perfectly because a few of the boys around Ron stood up, saying they were going to meet their other friends at the 'other pub'. This made their seat available and Alaw swooped in quickly before they were taken again.

"Hiya!" she greeted cheerfully. "They coming back or can we nick their seats?"

Ron looked at her in great surprise and then glanced shiftily at Dean and Seamus.

"Um, yeah, go on," he said after a pause.

 _That was weird_ , Alaw thought, but she sat down all the same. Hermione clambered onto the bench beside her and the silence dragged out for a few more seconds. Alaw filled it by taking a sip of her drink and coughing a little. It tasted like a blend of vodka, cocktail onion and elderflower.

"So what's been going on? Got any plans for tonight? I think I saw that club across the street was quite busy, d'you know if it's any good?"

"Wizhard, yeah, Fred and George say it can get a bit wild, which means it'll be mental," Ron said.

There was something reluctant about his tone that had not been there before. Alaw frowned at him and exchanged a look with Hermione.

"Um, are you ok?" the latter asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We just thought you'd be out with your Slytherin friends," Ron replied.

He addressed himself to Alaw and didn't pay much attention to Hermione even though it was she who had asked the question. The girls weren't sure how to react to this sudden rudeness but Alaw did her best.

"Oh, I don't really know any of them yet. I think they were a bit off about my Sorting but it should be okay once I've talked to some of them."

Seamus gave a loud snort of disgust.

"I wouldn't count on it, now," he said with a humourless chuckle. "They'll be mighty pissed off that the Hat dared put a muggle-born with them. I wouldn't be surprised if there were riots when the word gets out."

Hermione, Alaw and Dean stared at him.

"Oh, come on," Alaw began with a nervous laugh, "It can't be that bad."

Ron and Seamus looked deadly serious.

"No, we're serious, the old families are heavy hitters at the Ministry; they'll go mental! And you can bet this lot here will write to them first chance they get. News gets round fast in the wizarding world."

Alaw had to stop herself from laughing at this. If the old purebloods wanted to tell tales on her it would take them at least a day to get a letter home to their parents, had this been a muggle university, the story would have gotten out as quickly as it took someone to reach for their phone, and the story would be all over Twitter.

She couldn't understand it, people kept telling her racism and prejudice was a serious thing here, and yet she had seen little evidence. Okay, Hestia had been a bit rude and Theodore Knott kept giving her the creepy evil eye, but that was nothing compared to the bullying she had endured in lower school.

"I'm sure they'll get used to the idea, I really don't understand what is so terrible about muggle-borns." Hermione said comfortingly, rubbing Alaw's arm.

Alaw said nothing and threw back her drink to down it in one. This conversation was getting incredibly awkward and had dented the happiness she'd enjoyed before.

"I'm just going to pop to the toilet," she said the Hermione and she got up a little unsteadily.

The shots from earlier had gone straight to her head and she was feeling flushed in the crush of damp coats around her. Once in the ladies she fought for a spot in front of the mirrors so she could compose herself. God, her cheeks were bright red and not only from the alcohol. Well there was only one way cure embarrassment, she thought, another strong drink.

She turned to see if there was a cubical free and was surprised to come face to face with Hestia.

"Hello," she said abruptly and the girl gave her a very cold look.

"Oh, it's you," she replied bluntly to which Alaw frowned.

"You know, there's no need to be rude just because I'm muggle-born," she pointed out heatedly and the rest of the girls waiting and fixing their hair looked around curiously.

Instead of looking embarrassed, Hestia rolled her eyes and put a hand on her hip.

"Typical newcomer to play the race card," she snapped. "Don't you have your own kind to hang out with?"

"I'm not playing the race card! I'm just telling you you're being impolite!" Alaw retorted.

Hestia just huffed and walked past her out of the bathroom. With everyone still watching her, Alaw stomped into a cubical. She resolved not to take any crap from anyone about her parents, it just wasn't right! It felt like she'd stepped back in time to the 1930s or something, surely not all wizards were this backwards! And they sure as hell weren't going to make her feel ashamed of where she came from.

On her way back through the pub towards Hermione and the boys, she bumped into Neville. However when she said hello and smiled, he gave her a look of unmistakable fright. He mumbled something incomprehensible which was lost on Alaw in the loud chatter all about them and disappeared quickly after. Slightly put off, Alaw shoved her way between a pair of guffawing lads and came within earshot of her table.

She was about to sidestep a gossiping group of girls and squeeze back onto her chair when she caught part of Ron's conversation, and stopped to listen.

"I think you're being a little ridiculous, personally," Hermione was saying irritably, "There's nothing wrong with her!"

"Oh, come on, it put her in Slytherin!" Ron hissed under his breath, "For a muggle-born to end up there, they've got to be some sort of proper maniac!"

"Don't be so stupid, you've met her haven't you? Does she seem like a maniac?"

Ron scowled but then schooled his expression into what he clearly thought was one of patience.

"Look," he started again, in a tone that suggested he was talking to someone very slow. "You're new to the wizard world, you don't know about Slytherin's reputation! Pretty much every criminal out there was in Slytherin, every dark wizard."

"So you're saying that all Slytherins are criminals, then?" Hermione asked impatiently and Ron's expression turned dark again.

"Let's just say, I wouldn't trust any of them with my money or down a dark alley!"

"Even if what you say is true," Hermione went on witheringly, "Alaw isn't likely to be a criminal or a psychopath or whatever you're accusing her of. I know her, she's quite nice."

"Yeah but do you really know her?" Ron pressed, "Personally, I'd watch your back when she's around,"

Alaw chose this moment to step back into view, making an effort to keep her expression normal. Seamus elbowed Ron to make him shut up and he looked around sheepishly.

"A'right?" he asked, too casually.

"Yeah, fine, hot though," Alaw replied, and she winced internally at how high her voice was. "Actually, I was thinking of heading off; it's way too full in here. Hermione?"

"Yes, it is getting a bit too silly," her friend agreed, getting up and giving Ron a distinctly chilly look.

"Oh, right, well, see you later," Ron said but the girls had already started away.

As they approached the door Hermione looked at Alaw worriedly.

"Are you okay?" she asked and Alaw forced a smile onto her face.

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, nothing, um, where do you want to go, then?"

They were now standing on the doorstep with a few smokers who were huddled under the roof out of the rain. Across the street, the lights of the club Alaw had seen earlier were flashing blurrily, and loud thumping music drifted towards the soggy pub-goers.

"That place, maybe? Wizhard Ron said it was called. Hope it's not too expensive to get in," Alaw suggested, and together the girls splashed across the high-street.

She wasn't sure why she didn't want Hermione to know that she had heard Ron's words of warning, except that it was embarrassing. What he had said had been bang out of order and she was glad Hermione was having none of it. But part of her was now terribly worried that he had a point. Charity had mentioned something about Slytherin's dark reputation, but she had thought that was all in the past.

What if the Sorting Hat had seen something bad inside her head, something she wasn't aware of, and decided it had no choice but to put her in the crazy bull-shit house?

But that was ridiculous, Alaw snorted to herself. She was being utterly silly, she wasn't crazy, and she knew that! No, it was best just to ignore Ron and anyone else who had these bloody stupid ideas.

Determined not to let the night go to waste, Alaw huddled with Hermione under the roof of Wizhard which jutted out just enough to give them some protection from the rain. The queue was tedious to stand in and when they finally got its head, they had to pay to princely sum of six sickles each to get into the club. Once inside they descended a few steps, much like the ones to the dungeons, and entered the lower level of the club. No one was dancing here, people were sitting around on the arm chairs and sofas, some in niches along the walls.

Alaw immediately saw a definite mirroring of styles up at the castle, the lights were even tinted green, red, yellow and blue in various places. Two sets of spiralling wrought iron stairs led to the upper level where people were dancing and the music was no doubt louder.

The bar took up most of the far wall and Alaw made beeline for it, pulling Hermione behind her.

"I say, we get completely off our tits," Alaw proposed and Hermione stifled a surprised laugh.

"Alright," she said, throwing up her hands like she was throwing caution to the wind.

It was two for one on shots called Whizzers, apparently the clubs signature drink, so Alaw ordered eight of them. The bartender poured out acid green shots for the girls and then with a pinch of powder in each glass and wave of his wand, caused them to smoke purple.

After carrying them all precariously over to a spare sofa, Alaw downed her first without a moment's thought. Hermione was a little more cautious, particularly when Alaw coughed on hers.

"No it's nice try it!" Alaw urged in a croaky voice, "They're like apple sours but with a kick!"

Hermione sipped dubiously but after friendly jeering from Alaw, threw it back. The pair of them engaged in a contest to see who could down their next three the fastest. The magical edge to the drinks must have made them more fast working than muggle alcohol because once this was done Alaw felt a rush to her head.

"Come on let's dance!" she cried, dragging Hermione to her feet and over to the stairs.

She charged up them two at a time to emerge on to the upper level, which was only half the size of the ground floor and thus had a balcony overlooking it. It was tightly packed with students who were dancing in much the same way muggle people of the same age did. Alaw really couldn't see any difference in the way they had fun and she jumped into it with much enthusiasm. Neither she nor Hermione were spectacular dancers but they still thoroughly enjoy themselves even if they didn't recognise any of the songs.

A band was playing when they joined the throng. They were quite good and their tunes were catchy, but Alaw couldn't understand why people were going bonkers over them. Girls literally screamed when the lead singer stepped up to the edge of the stage and a mosh pit started somewhere in the corner. A lot of people were wearing neon headbands and bracelets which flashed in the colours of their houses.

"Where do you think you get them?" Alaw shouted over the ruckus.

"I don't know," Hermione roared back, then she turned to the people next to them and tapped one on the shoulder.

"Hey! Do you know where to get those bands?" she asked, pointing to them.

The group of boys promptly took Alaw and Hermione over to the window where they found a tired looking older man selling them at two knuts each. After Alaw bought a bright green circlet to put over her hair, and Hermione a crimson choker, the boys offered to buy them drinks downstairs.

All in all it was a fun way to spend the night, though Alaw had trouble remembering what they had talked about after the third or fourth drink. After fending off the advances of the young men, who soon turned their attention elsewhere, the girls returned upstairs to enjoy the euro-pop playing.

Both managed to fall over a few times as they jived the night away but Hermione tired a lot sooner than Alaw did. It was only two when her friend asked for a halt. Alaw tried to dissuade her, suggesting they brake for another drink, but rather ruined her argument by slipping down the stairs. She caught herself in time and sunk a few more steps as she laughed slurring slightly.

The girls supported each other down to the ground floor, past the boys they'd been talking to earlier who were now chatting up yet another group of patrons, and headed toward the exit. They were nearly there when someone knocked Alaw's neon headband off onto the sticky floor. She glanced around and saw Theodore perched on the back of a sofa, his arm around a girl whilst his friends looked on.

"What are you doing wearing that, eh? Don't you know it's only for proper Slytherins?" he asked snidely.

Or at least, that was the gist of what he said, Alaw couldn't really hear him and she was a little wobbly. Deciding it was best to say nothing, she simply bent down to retrieve the band and continue on her way. But Theodore wasn't about to let her go that easily.

"Hey, hey, didn't you hear what I said?" he called as she and Hermione powerwalked through the door and up the steps to the street.

It had stopped raining, though droplets still trickled from the gutters and the cobbles were divided up into little islands by the puddles. It made walking down the street more into a game of hopscotch than anything, not that Alaw got very far before Theodore followed her out of Wizhard.

"Oi, muggle-born, I'm talking to you!" he jeered and Hermione gripped Alaw's arm tightly.

"Ignore him," she muttered as she guided her friend past the largest puddles.

"Don't you know it's rude to ignore your superiors?" Theodore tried again.

This, Alaw could not ignore and she turned on her heel to face him.

"Excuse me?" she asked incredulously. "You are no one's superior, you're just the same age and year as the rest of us!"

"On the contrary, I am a real wizard, you are not a real witch, ergo, I am your superior," Theodore replied comfortably.

He wasn't shouting now, it was clear to him that he had annoyed his quarry enough to make them stay.

"I'm a real witch!" Alaw spat, swaying a little and grabbing Hermione's shoulder to steady herself.

"Yes, we both are, now please leave us alone," Hermione said snootily to Theodore as she tried to encourage Alaw away with gestures.

Theodore cast her a disparaging look. By now, a few of his friends had joined him and they were watching the standoff with relish.

"Oh, another muggle-born, well I suppose birds of a feather and all that. See, that's why it makes so much more sense to put you all with your own kind. How did you end up with the normal wizard house, Jones? It is Jones isn't it?"

"Yes, and stop saying that!" Alaw growled, taking an ill-advised step forward. "We're all the same kind, we're all wizards. So you can just bugger off!"

There were soft 'oohs' from the watching crowd, which now consisted of more than just Theodore's group. The high-street was busier than it had been now that the rain was done, and several people had stopped to check out the commotion. Hermione tugged Alaw's arm in earnest now.

"Alaw, _please_ ," she begged quietly, "Let's go, please."

"I think you'll find most decent people would disagree with you there, Jones," Theodore replied. "My father for one, but you still haven't answered my question. Why did the Sorting Hat put you in Slytherin? Is it getting too old? Surely it must be going senile."

"The Hat sounded fine to me!"

"Everything all right here?"

It was the bouncer, he was rather large and grumpy looking. He was looking between Theodore and Alaw, and at the crowd of spectators. Several people quickly assured him that all was well and whilst he listened suspiciously to them, Hermione took the opportunity to drag Alaw off. They practically ran all the way out of the village, only slowing when they reached the lane and were alone apart from the odd randomer.

"You shouldn't let him wind you up like that, he knows he can do it now and he won't stop," Hermione warned and Alaw hung her head ashamedly.

"I know, sorry, I just don't think it's right that he can talk to people like that! I mean, who does he think he is?!"

"Well I'd avoid him if I were you, he's trouble."

"That's exactly what I intend to do."


	4. Chapter 3 - First Impressions

Chapter Three

First Impressions Can Be Spot On

 *** Author's Note *, Shout out to Toraach, thank you for your kind review! The story behind Draco's wand will be revealed, but possibly not in this book. As to the name, I chose Alaw because it's a very old Welsh name as the character's background comes into play later.**

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When Alaw opened her eyes, the unfamiliar surroundings confused her for a moment. Then she yawned and rolled over onto her back to gaze through half-closed eyes at the canopy of the four-poster bed. There was a spider spinning its web in the corner and she watched it idly for a while, unwilling to drag herself from the feather mattress.

Her head was a little delicate after the night before and she was parched. She was also desperate for the toilet which was what prompted her, eventually, to get up. However the moment her feet touched the stone floor she drew them up to her chest and shivered. It looked like she'd need to buy a rug, as well as a completely new fashion sense, when she next ventured into Hogsmead.

After donning a pair of socks and her fluffy red dressing gown, Alaw opened the door of her room with another yawn and moseyed on down the corridor to the bathroom. Whilst she was there she splashed some water on her face and stretched to ease the ache in her muscles.

It was very quiet in the Slytherin Dungeons that day, everyone seemed to be still in bed with their collective hangovers. Alaw was tempted to just go back to sleep but her stomach growled and she pondered whether or not it would be acceptable to go to breakfast in her pyjamas. She decided to risk it, but put on a pair of shoes anyway.

As she crossed the common room she saw Draco Malfoy sitting by the fireplace, reading. He didn't glance up as she passed and she didn't greet him. But seeing him reminded Alaw to glance around surreptitiously for any sign of Theodore on her way out. Her encounter with him last night had been an unpleasant experience but it annoyed her more than upset her.

He had done his best to ruin what had up until that point, been a perfectly fun night out. Well, if one ignored the slightly offensive speculations of Ron Wesley and his friends. Alaw sighed as she climbed out of the dungeons and entered the Entrance Hall, people in this place were far too quick to judge.

As it turned out, Alaw had been correct in thinking no one else would be dressed to impress in the Great Hall that day. There were only a dozen or so people at each table and most were clad in pyjamas, sippers and dressing gowns. Some were even in old-fashioned night-gowns and caps. The staff table was practically empty, with only one batty looking professor sitting at the far end, looking like she'd drifted in by accident.

Alaw sat at the Slytherin table alone, once she'd scanned the Gryffindors and found Hermione to be not among them. She was half way through her meal before she realised it wasn't breakfast, but lunch, and that it was well after midday. As she was sitting by the doors she could watch people as they came and went, and when Fred and George Weasley came in she called out to them.

"Afternoon!"

"Good afternoon!" Fred cried when he turned and saw her. "And how is the young Slytherin this fine day?"

"I'm fine, bit of a hangover," she replied with a smile. "Do you want to sit down?"

"What do you think George?" Fred asked his twin with mock seriousness. "Shall we break centuries of tradition and accept this Slytherin's daring proposal to sit where no Gryffindor has sat before?"

"I dunno," George said, sucking air through his teeth and rubbing the back of his head. "Could start a riot you know."

"Just sit down," Alaw said in exasperation, brandishing a skewered sausage towards the empty seats opposite her and rolling her eyes.

"You know what, you're on," George grinned, and her and his brother swung their legs over the benches.

Alaw glanced down the length of the table but no one paid them a blind bit of notice.

"See? No rioting," she said and Fred sighed.

"We must be losing our touch. So, what's it like being the first muggle-born ever to grace the slimy halls of Salazar Slytherin? Must have been a bit of a shock."

"Yeah it was, I thought I had no chance."

"What exactly happened?" George asked, helping himself to a burger and some chips. "You were up there for ages!"

Alaw told them all that the hat had said, how it had argued with itself and seemed to immediately regret its decision. When she was done the twins looked at each other.

"That is weird," Fred said quietly. "When it sorted us, it only took a few seconds. So it really wanted to put you here in the first place?"

"Yes, but it kept going on about how I was muggle-born and how inconvenient it was. Bit insulting actually."

"Well I'd get used to that if I were you. People are not going to be happy about this. But you should have seen Snape's face! Priceless!" George sniggered.

"Snape?" Alaw quizzed with a frown, the name sounded familiar.

"Your new Head of House, greasy haired git who was sitting next to Dumbledore."

"Oh, yes, he's the Potions teacher right?"

Alaw remembered now the brochure which listed the subjects and their teachers, and given how she'd practically memorised the whole thing from start to end she was surprised she hadn't recognised the name at once.

"Well, he's one of those old-school Purebloods, not a fan of yours truly and Gryffindors in general," Fred explained. "And you can bet he's going to have a headache over you being dumped on him."

"I wasn't dumped!" Alaw protested indignantly. "The hat wanted me here, that's all there is to it. Seriously, am I going to have to explain that to everyone?!"

Just then Charity Burbage walked in. Her eyes went immediately to Alaw and she came over to talk.

"Alaw, I'm glad I caught you. How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Alaw replied in surprise at the concern in her tone. Charity eyed her carefully before nodding.

"Good, that's good. I was wondering if you could pop into my office after you've finished eating? Just for a chat, nothing serious."

"O-kay."

"I don't suppose you'll know where to find it yet, I'm on the first floor, at the end of the first corridor off the grand staircase, my name is on the door."

"Thanks," Alaw said and Charity smiled and left the Hall. Apparently she'd only entered it to look for Alaw.

"Shit, am I in trouble or something?" she asked the moment Charity was gone.

"Nah, she'll just want to ask what happened, and if you're okay. Don't worry, it's just her job to watch out for newbie muggle-borns." Fred reassured her.

So, after she'd eaten her fill and drank enough water to abate her headache, Alaw made a quick detour to the dungeons to change into something more appropriate for walking around the castle in, before taking to the Grand Staircase. She'd read that it was prone to move of its own accord, and she'd seen it happen the previous evening, so she stepped carefully up to the first floor. As Charity had said her office was at the far end of the corridor and she answered the door the moment Alaw knocked.

"Ah, Alaw, come in, take a seat. Don't worry you're not in any trouble I just wanted to talk to you about last night," she said briskly, stepping aside to allow Alaw inside.

It was a small yet comfortable room, with a sofa and two squashy chairs on either side of the desk. The window was open to let in the mild September sunlight and through it, Alaw saw the front drive and a few students out and about on the lawn. Charity went around the desk and the two women sat at the same time.

"So, what a turn out for the books, eh?" Charity asked jovially, but Alaw only nodded. It seemed Charity wasn't quite sure how to proceed.

"I have to say, you gave us all quite a shock last night," she continued when it was apparent Alaw wouldn't say anything. "Yes, quite a shock. I never even thought it was possible for the Hat to break the rules."

"Have I broken a real rule, then? Have I done something wrong?" Alaw asked quickly.

"No, no! Of course not," Charity rushed to reassure her. "There isn't an actual law saying a muggle born can't be in Slytherin, it's just a tradition. Salazar Slytherin wanted to ban all of muggle decent from the school altogether. You have to understand, it was a different time, and muggles were a threat to wizards then."

Charity paused and observed Alaw with an air of concern again. She then asked,

"Could you tell me exactly what the Hat said to you? Did it give any reason for its actions?"

So, once again, Alaw related the mutterings of the Sorting Hat in as much detail as she could recall. Her description however only made Charity frown.

"You have the traits of a Slytherin; that was the only explanation it gave?" she asked in mild frustration. "But there must have been any number of muggle-borns who suited Slytherin down the years, why would it single you out?"

Alaw just shrugged before frowning thoughtfully.

"It said something about Merlin," she said suddenly. "Yeah, something about him being interesting."

"Merlin was a Slytherin, he was one of its first members, hand-picked by Salazar himself probably," Charity mused.

After tugging at her lower lip for a few moments she shook her head and threw up her hands.

"Ah, well, maybe the Hat just thought it was time for some new blood. Merlin knows that House needs a little variation now and then. What's important is you're happy there. Are you?"

Alaw thought about this and then nodded.

"Yeah, I think I am. I was dead chuffed last night anyway, I thought it could never happen."

"Well, that's fine, then. Um, how did your new housemates react?"

Now Alaw's lip twisted and she shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

"Uh," she said awkwardly, "Well, most don't seem bothered. I got a few odd looks and, uh, that's it really."

She'd been about to tell her about Theodore Knott and his heckling outside Wizhard but she decided not to at the last moment. It was nothing now that she thought about it, just a drunken shouting match. He'd probably calm down once he got used to the idea, just like the rest of them.

"Alright but if you have any trouble you know you can come to me," Charity stressed. "Hogwarts has a zero tolerance policy on bullying, particularly on the base of lineage."

She let Akaw go after that and the young woman descended once more to the dungeons. The common room was hardly fuller than it had been when she'd left it and Draco was still reading in the arm chair next to the fire, which was now lit. He seemed absorbed because she'd been gone for well over an hour.

Alaw stood by the notice board and wondered vaguely what she should do with the rest of the day. Then it occurred to her that she should write to her parents and tell them she'd arrived safely and how things were going so far. So she retrieved a pen and a pad of paper from her room and returned to the sofa's by the fire because it was warmer there.

As she plonked herself down and put her feet up on the coffee table, Draco didn't seem to notice her. She wrote out an entire page of her letter before he reached for the glass of water on the table and his eyes fell on her.

"Hey," she said absently, chewing her pen. "Not suffering today? I had a banging headache."

"I didn't stay out long," he replied briefly.

Brevity seemed to be a strong-suit of his as Alaw was starting to realise. Maybe it wasn't rudeness after all, and merely a personality trait.

"Where did you go? I didn't see you with Theodore's lot in Wizhard."

"I was tired."

Alaw scratched out a few more lines before signing the letter with her love.

"What you reading?" she asked once she'd rested the pad on the arm of the sofa and looked over at Draco again.

"Never you mind," he muttered, turning a page of his book and resolutely ignoring her.

"Oh, come on," she pleaded. "I'm sorry I thought you were muggle-born, I just assumed 'cos you were in Ollivander's. Why were you there anyway? Something wrong with the wand you got in the summer?"

"Something like that, now please leave me alone. I can't be seen talking to you," Draco snapped. Or at least, it sounded like he meant to snap, but it came off more like pleading.

Before Alaw could riddle that out, someone snatched away her writing pad and she had to turn around quickly.

"Well, what do we have here?" Theodore said, loudly enough to attack the attention of the few people in the common room. " _Dear Mum and Dad_ , writing to the muggle clan are you, Jones? Sure they'll be able to read it? What's the literacy rate for your lot then?"

"Yeah, you're a comedy genius, now give it back, please," Alaw said flatly, holding out her hand for the pad and half rising from her seat.

"Hang on I want to know what you say about Hogwarts, can't let the muggles find out about us, can we? _Got here just fine_ , _the train was a bit long but I ran into some lads and we got talking_ ,"

Alaw jumped up and approached Theodore but he danced out of her reach and around the sofas. People watched their race around the room with sniggers as Theodore continued to read aloud from the letter, mimicking a high, girly voice.

" _This place is amazing! The grounds are so beautiful, and the castle is just breath-taking!_ Seriously, Jones _?_ This is so sickly."

"Give me that!" Alaw growled, cornering him and wrenching the pad out of his hands. The letter tore a little and she moaned in irritation.

"Oops, careful Jones, you sure you're responsible enough to be a witch?" Theodore laughed and Alaw made a disgusted noise.

"Oh, my god, what are you, like, three years old or something?! Who seriously acts like that around total strangers at our age, eh?" she snarled at him.

She stomped away to her room and slammed the door behind her on Theodore's irritating sniggering.

The Owlery was a smelly place. Located at the top of the West Tower it had taken some time for Akaw to find it, and she'd had to snag a couple of passing students to ask for directions. When she got there she immediately stepped on something that crunched and as she raised her foot to investigate, she discovered that the floor was covered in owl poo and pellets.

"Yuch," she muttered.

"Alaw?"

Alaw looked up and saw Hermione standing on the first landing, nervously holding an owl on her arm.

"Hia, what are you doing?"

"Sending a letter to mum and dad, if I can ever get this thing to stay still. Yourself?"

"Same, want some help?"

As Alaw climbed the stairs which hugged the walls of the tower, the many hundreds of owls nesting its niches hooted and shifted their position. Many were asleep but a few flew in through the glassless windows, and Alaw shook her head to dislodge a feather when it settled in her hair.

The owl Hermione had chosen, a spooky looking barn owl, was most uncooperative but the girls eventually managed to tie the letter to its leg and send it off into the bright sun.

"I was scared of owls when I was little," Alaw admitted as she tried to coax a snowy owl onto her outstretched arm.

"But they're so beautiful," Hermione protested and Alaw shrugged, wincing as the snowy's claws dug into her.

"Yeah I know, but I had this book with a really creepy picture of an owl on the cover and I used to hide it at the bottom of my toy pile, in case it came alive and got me in the night." Alaw explained and grinned and the memory. "I was a silly cow. But owls are kind of bad luck in Wales."

"Why?" Hermione asked curiously.

"There's a myth about a woman who was made of flowers by a wizard. When she got her lover to kill her husband the wizard punished her by turning her into an owl, the bird all other birds hate."

"Why are wizards always the bad guys in myths?" Hermione complained.

Alaw launched the snowy which now bore her letter (which she'd had to re-write) and turned back to Hermione, rubbing her arm painfully.

"Actually he was one of the good guys in this. The morals of Welsh Myths can be a bit tricky to get sometimes. More often than not it's the woman who's the bad guy."

"There's a surprise," said Hermione dryly. "Do you still want to go to Hogsmead?

"Yeah, come on we can have dinner there after the shops."

It was warm when the girls left the castle, so warm in fact that they shed their jackets and walked quite happily along the lane in their t-shirts. Their attire still got them some odd looks from passers-by but they found they cared less and less the more people stared.

"I didn't see you at lunch," Alaw commented once they'd reached the village and found a clothes shop called _Jinx_.

It was a small, stylish establishment with rows of manikins along the walls. The dolls were sporting some cool, steampunk dresses and outfits but unlike muggle manikins, these were waving and posing to the customers. Hermione tisked as she pawed through the rows of robes before her.

"I was still asleep I'm afraid, that's why I'm starving now."

"We could go and get something to eat if you'd like," Alaw suggested but Hermione waved a hand.

"No, I can wait until dinner. I didn't get to sleep until five because these idiots were making such a racket in the common room, and it was coming up through the floor boards! It was that Ron Wesley and his friends, I seriously don't like him."

After they'd browsed in Jinx for a while and deemed it all far too expensive, and too dressy for everyday use anyway, they moved on to the other two clothes shops on the high street. One was an outlet of Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions, where they both bought a few spare robes they could wear in their time off (Hermione's were grey and light blue, whilst Alaw opted for dark green and a black and red pattern).

The third shop was called Gladrags Wizardwear which was the cheapest of the three, and where they bought most of their everyday outfits. As they left they were weighed down with bags brimming with ruffled dresses, britches, shirts and waistcoats. Alaw also invested in some more modern looking things like a polo shirt with the Slytherin crest stitched on of the chest, and a sleeveless corduroy trench coat that did up with brass buttons.

It had been a successful yet expensive trip so Alaw decided not to get a rug for her room. She'd just have to have a pair of socks waiting in the mornings.

"Where d'you want to eat?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know, Broomsticks do food don't they? Oh wait hang on, how 'bout there?"

Alaw gestured to a café a few shops down. It was called Warlock's Nook and on closer inspection they found it was a quaint little place full of velvet sofas and scrubbed wooden tables. It wasn't very full so the girls took a seat by the window so they could people watch.

"Cute place," Alaw said as she ran her eye down the menu. "Cheap too, I like that."

A waitress came over and they both ordered the soup of the day and cokes. The waitress stared at them and asked what the bloody hell a 'coke' was, which prompted them to blush and ask for orange juice instead.

" _Why_ is this place so backwards?" Alaw hissed as the girl walked away. "I can get on board with the clothes and maybe I can learn to live without the internet, but _coke_? Come on! They've got chips haven't they?"

"You know I heard that Charity organizes trips to the nearest muggle town every now and then, you know, to go to the pictures and things."

"Thank Christ, we'll have to stock up on luxuries when we go. Hey and speaking of Charity, I got called to her office today."

Alaw told Hermione about the meeting but she didn't seem particularly surprised.

"Yes I thought she'd have a word with you about it. Have you had any more trouble with that Theodore Knott?"

"No," Alaw lied.

She wasn't sure why she did it. Maybe because she felt the thing with the letter had been too childish to merit a mention. After all, she didn't want to start complaining after one day.

The rest of Fresher's Week passed extremely quickly for Alaw. This was probably down to the fact that she spent the majority of it drunk or hungover, and she didn't get out of bed until well past noon most days. At first she'd thought she wouldn't get to experience Hogsmeade's bright lights like everyone else because Hermione wasn't much of a party animal and she didn't know anyone else well enough to tag along with them.

But she had been rescued by the Wesley twins who took her under their wing when they heard her complaining about it. They didn't rate the Three Broomsticks and instead they took her to the Hogshead on the other side of the village, and then to Wizhard of course. They also taught her to play cards and she had the pleasure of cleaning the pair of them out one night, by pure chance.

Hermione was a bit iffy about the twins at first but they made her laugh once or twice and so she tolerated them. Of course, hanging out with his brothers brought Alaw into contact with Ron quite a lot in the evenings. He still acted a bit stiffly around her, but seemed to loosen up when Fred told him bluntly to stop acting like he had a wand up his backside.

It wasn't only Hogsmead that strived to entertain the students. Dumbledore had booked a few bands to play in the Great Hall for one of the nights, and during the day there were stalls for the society fairs. Alaw didn't fancy joining any though she was bemused to learn that Hogwarts had a blanket ban on amateur dramatics, and that there was a society dedicated to protesting this.

The individual houses had their own outings and shindigs, including wild parties in their respective common rooms, but Alaw didn't enjoy the Slytherin one very much. She'd tried talking to Cameron and Flora (Hestia had quickly attached herself to another crew), but they seemed stiff with her just like Ron. Not unpleasant exactly, just, uncomfortable. She gone to bed early that night feeling a bit disappointed.

When she wasn't partying or sleeping it off, Alaw hung out with Hermione. The two had become fast friends and with the weather pleasant they took to the grounds most days. They found a secluded spot by the lake, under a silvery beech tree, where they brought out food and books from the magnificent library.

It wasn't long before they started practising magic. It was inevitable really, they'd both been desperate to start all summer. Alaw had read her text books cover to cover just like Hermione, thirsty for knowledge. They'd started out with what they thought must have been a relatively simple spell, one to lift an object off the ground. Surely it was the most basic thing in the world, and yet they realised in about ten minutes that it was harder than it seemed.

"I'm doing the wand movement right aren't I?" Alaw asked with a frown, shaking out her wand like she would a remote control that was on the blink.

"I'm sure you are," Hermione said in frustration, looking down at the Standard Book of Spells, Grade One, and the moving picture of the wizard waving his wand. "Maybe it's the incantation, maybe we're not saying it right."

"Or maybe we need to try and lift something lighter!" Alaw growled, kicking aside the small rock she'd been practising on.

Hermione handed the book to her and stood, positioning herself about a metre from the stone.

"Win- _gar_ -dium Levi-o-sar!" she said, swishing her wand in an O shape and then flicking it.

The rock suddenly shot into the air and then plopped into the lake as Hermione squealed in surprise.

"Yes!" Alaw cried, jumping back to her feet and gazing gleefully at where the stone had sunk. "Brilliant! Let me try, how did you say it again?"

That had been on the Sunday, the day before their first lessons so though they hadn't had much time to practise, even a tiny amount of magic had been enough to make the girls very excited. Alaw declined the Wesley twin's offer to go to the pub that night and instead went to bed at a more reasonable time.

She didn't get to sleep until after midnight however, because she was too pumped up. She was also still trying her hand at some of the spells in the Standard Book of Spells. It only detailed eleven in total, and she assumed they'd work on them in their first term of Charms.

"Lumos!" she whispered.

Nothing happened.

She cupped the wand tip in her spare hand and brought it close to her mouth like she was trying to light a fire.

" _Lumos_!" she tried again.

Nothing happened.

"Oh come on!" she growled irritably. "LUMOS!"

The wand tip suddenly flashed and made a sound like a light bulb blowing. Alaw shrieked and dropped the smoking thing, throwing up her arms to protect her face. There came a banging on her door.

"Oi muggle! Shut up, people are trying to sleep!" called and angry voice through the wood.

Alaw swallowed and reached slowly for her wand, picked it up with forefinger and thumb, and laid it to rest gently on her bedside table. Maybe it was better to just leave the magic alone until a teacher was present.


	5. Chapter 4 - School Begins

Chapter Four

School Begins

Alaw wasn't the only one who got up bright and early the next day. She showered and spent a few minutes in front of her mirror trying to make her school robes as presentable as possible. She only let them be after her mirror unexpectedly cried, 'you look fine dear!', scaring the shit out of her in the process. When she stepped out into the common room she found herself in a bit of a traffic jam for the exit so she stood about waiting her turn.

Cameron wasn't far off, he had the sleeves of his robes rolled up to show off his tattoo and was running a comb through his jelled hair.

"Morning," Alaw said. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet in anticipation and perhaps Camron noticed this because he smiled.

"Morning, excited are we?" he asked and Alaw nodded vigorously.

"Can't wait! How do we get our time tables?"

"I think we get given them by Snape."

"Ok cool, so I'll just sit-aw!"

Alaw stumbled as an elbow jammed into her back. Gregory Goyle, closely followed by Theodore, Vincent Crab and Pansy Parkinson, pushed past her.

"Watch where you're going muggle," Goyle said aggressively and Alaw wisely didn't rise to the challenge.

After a week of petty verbal jabs she'd come to the conclusion that she should learn some defensive magic before she tried arguing back too much. Besides, she didn't want to get into trouble and if Fred and George were to be believed, there was a duelling component to first year Defence Against the Dark Arts. She'd get her chance to kick their arses legitimately.

As she straightened out her robes, Theodore turned to glare at the Slytherin emblem on her chest.

"Good God, it really is true isn't it? It's actually happening. And here I was hoping it was all a bad dream," he said viciously. "My uncles have already written to Dumbledore you know."

"Have they," Alaw said bordly.

"Yes, and so have a lot of other people."

"Fascinating."

Theodore squared up to her and looked down his nose like she was a sticky infant.

"I wouldn't get too comfortable muggle, you'll be out of here in a week I can guarantee it," he said in a low and menacing voice. Alaw didn't flinch, she know how to deal with bullies and she glared back at him.

"Really? Want a bet?" she said through gritted teeth.

The pair stood nose to nose, with the eyes of the common room on them, until Theodore turned his back haughtily on Alaw and pushed past the crowd so he could climb out of the hole in the wall first, followed closely by his cronies. Alaw let out the breath she'd been holding and muttered darkly,

"Little shit."

She had been wrong, he wouldn't get over her parentage; he really was just a spoilt twat. Everyone avoided eye contact with her as the queue to leave reformed and people discussed what had just happened. Alaw shrugged off the argument fairly easily, she'd still suffered worse bullying in secondary school and Theodore was a pipsqueak in her pecking order. No, nothing would ruin this day.

When she finally got to the Great Hall she took her customary seat at the end nearest the door so she could leave quickly if need be. Well, she assumed it would become customary since she'd spent a lot of the past week sitting with Hermione at the Gryffindor table, or whichever table they fancied really, they didn't care much for the stringent house divisions.

But, if she wanted her timetable, Alaw had to sit with the Slytherins for now. She wasn't particularly hungry so she only picked at a bowl of Pixie Puffs, allowing the pixies to hop around her bowl playing kicky bag with the puffs. Her eyes were trained on the staff table, particularly Professor Snape who was talking to Dumbledore. They seemed to be arguing, well, Snape was arguing, Dumbledore was being dismissive.

After a few minutes the Potions Master gave up and pushed back his chair. Professor McGonagall did the same and they walked around the staff table in opposite directions towards their houses. Snape stopped at the head of the long line of students, a stack of papers in his arms, and waved his wand once. The papers flew to their respective students and Alaw caught hold of hers before it could land in her cereal (the pixies squealed and dove for cover into the milk).

The name space was blank so Alaw rummaged in her leather satchel for a biro to fill it in. Then she ran her eye eagerly down the Monday column. She had five one hour lesson slots a day but some were blank, obviously free periods.

The bareness of the timetable surprised Alaw. She was used to seeing almost every slot filled but it looked like they only had one lesson a week of all their subjects. It was probably to encourage them to pursue their studies in their own time and Alaw smiled to herself as she scooped up a last mouthful of pixie puffs and got up.

The timetable said Transfiguration was on the fifth floor so Alaw took to the stairs with her bag slung over her shoulder. She hadn't ventured so far up the marble staircase yet and on the second floor her fear of heights kicked in. Taking a deep breath to calm herself she kept going, whilst keeping a tight hold on the banister nearest the wall. The key was not to look down and prey that the stairs didn't move.

When she made it to the fifth floor, Alaw stepped as quickly as she could into the corridor and positioned herself outside the door to 5B. She was the first one there and over the following ten minutes her fellow Slytherins and Hufflepuffs joined the queue she'd started. Everyone seemed quite as excited as she was and they all stood up straight when Professor McGonagall arrived.

"Nice to see everyone is prompt," she said in her clipped, no-nonsense tone, and she opened the classroom door with a flick of her wand.

The students waited until she had entered before following her in. It was a typical classroom, with rows of wooden desks and isle down the centre towards the teacher's desk and the blackboard. Alaw took a seat somewhere in the middle, not too near the front but close enough that she had a good view. She automatically took out a notebook and a biro, earning her a few titters from the nearest Slytherin girls.

"Quiet please," McGonagall called sternly, silencing the girls with a hawk eyed stare.

Once she was sure everyone was paying attention she began.

"As I hope you are all aware," McGonagall began, "Transfiguration is the art of changing the form and appearance of an object. There are limits to Transfiguration, which are governed by Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, something I recommend you all familiarise yourself with sooner rather than later. There are many branches of Transfiguration, including Cross-Species Transfiguration and Human Transfiguration. Now I must warn you, this is not an easy subject. It requires a keen and logical mind and can be very dangerous if you do not pay attention to what you are doing."

Everyone sat up a little straighter in their seats, as if posture would prove they were all responsible young adults. McGonagall pointed her wand at a box on her desk, and dozens of small, brown objects flew out. One matchstick, as it they turned out to be, landed on each student's desk.

"Today you will learn the basic theory of form and material transfiguration. I will explain the theory and later you will all attempt to change your matchstick into a needle. Now I don't even want to see a wand in someone's hand until I have finished talking, understood?"

A few people who had already taken their wands out quickly put them aside and Alaw left hers in its holster. Instead she poised her pen expectantly on the paper before her and waited for McGonagall to begin. It only took a few minutes for Alaw to realise that this was going to be a very difficult class. She only managed to follow the first few sentences out of McGonagall's mouth before losing the plot of the whole exercise. She tried to keep frantic notes, her writing getting messier and messier until she'd filled a page with a chicken scratch that was barely legible, as well as some squiggly diagrams.

There was a lot more maths involved than she'd expected. You had to hold in your mind the exact chemical composition of the material you were trying to transfigure, as well as the composition of the end goal. You also had to calculate angles and have just the right amount of concentration, otherwise you'd either damage the object, or yourself.

After half an hour of talking and filling the blackboard with these points, McGonagall demonstrated the correct wand movement, before transfiguring her match into a needle in the blink of an eye. The class simply stared at her blankly.

"You'll note that Transfiguration does not generally use incantations," she said once she'd put the needle aside. "Contrary to popular belief, it is not the incantation which causes magic to happen, but rather the will of the caster. A word or phrase is merely a tool we use to focus the mind, much like a wand focuses the magic. In this class we'll try to wean you off using incantations, for I find them a hindrance in later life when we try to teach you more subtle means of casting. Now, does anyone need me to repeat any of the instructions?"

Most of the class looked like they wanted to say, _yes_ , but were too scared to admit this. McGonagall waited for a moment and when no one piped you she nodded.

"Very well, if you need to check the wand movement, please consult the blackboard."

She flicked her wand at the illustration of a hand holding a wand, and it began to move. Like a meme, it simply repeated itself over and over again and Alaw watched it carefully as she took out her own wand. Then she dropped her gaze to the matchstick in front of her and took a deep breath. Like many of the people around her, she tried transfiguring it straight away by simply imagining it to be a needle and waving her wand.

McGonagall had already warned them against this but since she didn't scold too much, it seemed she'd expected them all to do it anyway.

It was the strangest lesson of Alaw's entire life. The class was silent but for the rustling of sleeves as people repeatedly flicked, waved and twirled their wands. Occasionally someone (including Alaw) would drop their wand after flourishing it too zealously and it would clatter loudly. McGonagall walked between the students, occasionally offering some guidance or a telling off.

When she came by Alaw's desk, the Slytherin was bent over her notes, tugging at her bottom lip as she tried to absorb what was on the page.

"Let's see you try then Miss Jones," McGonagall said and Alaw glanced up at her in alarm.

"Um, ok," she stuttered.

She then dropped her eyes to the matchstick and concentrated. All the matchstick did was twitch a little and roll away towards the edge of the desk. Alaw grabbed it quickly back.

Behind her, she heard Theodore Knott sniggering with Vincent Crab.

"She's muggle-born Professor," he supplied helpfully, as if that explained everything.

Alaw blushed furiously and twisted around to glare at Theodore. How dare he embarrass her in front of a _teacher_! McGonagall looked unimpressed.

"I am fully aware of that Mr Knott, though I don't see its relevance. Back to work if you please," she said coldly and the smirk slid from Theodore's face.

McGonagall turned her back on him and said to Alaw,

"I think you may be concentrating too hard Miss Jones. Take a moment to calm yourself and then try again. Remember to bare the angles and composition in mind. I'll come back in a minute to see how you've got on."

She moved away to swoop down like a hawk on Theodore's group who had been whispering amongst themselves mutinously. Alaw dipped her head and smiled at the row they were getting. She then took McGonagall's advice and read over her notes.

When she'd taken a breather she picked up her wand again, called up the numbers of the angles she wanted in her mind, and tapped. The matchstick shuddered, and the red end vanished, making it pointier. The barrel also lost its corners and became a slim cylinder.

Alaw's heart leaped and she looked around eagerly to see if anyone else had seen, but they were all still busy turning red in the face and jabbing their wands with increasing frustration.

"Uh, Professor?" Alaw called, trying not to sound too proud of herself.

McGonagall came back to her and took the matchstick, well, pointy piece of wood by that point, from Alaw.

"There now you have the idea," she said passively. "It's always easier to change the shape rather than the colour or material. Keep trying Jones."

This wasn't exactly gushing praise and by the end of the lesson, Alaw still hadn't managed to make any further difference to the damn stick. She watched it fly back into the box feeling disheartened. Still, no one else had managed to do anything at all with their matchsticks. McGonagall told them all to practice the spell ready for the next class, and to read the first chapter of _Transfiguration For Beginners_ , particularly the part about metal work.

They had Charms next and since it was with the Gryffindors, Alaw practically skipped down to the second floor so she could get there early and tell Hermione all about her first lesson. Unsurprisingly, Hermione was already standing outside the door of Professor Flitwick's, the tiny teacher they'd seen at the Start of term feast, classroom.

In fact, the other muggle-borns who'd been sorted into Gryffindor, Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown, were early too.

"Hermione, I did it! I did magic! Well, sort of," Alaw gushed as she bounded up to her friend.

"Well done!" Hermione cried. "What were you doing? Is Professor McGonagall nice? Is it difficult?"

Alaw recounted every detail of the class to Hermione and only stopped when Professor Flitwick opened the door in front of them. After a stream of older students had come out, he invited the first years inside.

Hermione headed straight for the front of the class, apparently unaware of how overly keen this looked. As Alaw sat and took out her _Standard Book of Spells_ she heard her last name muttered somewhere behind her and she cocked her head to listen.

"Well of course McGonagall was going to fawn over Jones! What do you expect from a muggle lover?"

Ah, Theodore. Alaw rolled her eyes and opened her book to the first chapter, though still keeping half an ear on the conversation.

"Have you heard anything yet?" asked someone, Alaw thought it was probably Crab.

"Of course not!" Theodore snapped. "Do you think I'd still be sitting here quietly if we'd had the go ahead? No, Mother and Uncle Alphard told me to wait until they'd petitioned Dumbledore."

"Surely he won't allow this farce to continue, it's not natural! My Mother must have been quite distraught when I wrote to her." said Pansy Parkinson.

"Well, we all know what a senile old moron Dumbledore can be. He's soft in the head when _their_ kind is concerned," Theodore said darkly.

Alaw got the feeling she was supposed to hear this conversation because none of them were being particularly quiet. They shut up once Flitwick tapped his wand on the teacher's desk like a conductor calling his orchestra to order.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen," he said pleasantly. "You're all probably dying to do some magic, and don't want to listen to me going on and on forever. So let's get right into it, today I'll be teaching the simplest ability of a witch or wizard, how to move small objects about."

"So, how's your first day going kiddos?" Fred Weasley asked as Alaw gestured Hermione over to his and his brothers' end of the table.

Ron gave them his customary weary look and busied himself with hoovering up his shepherd's pie.

"It's great!" Hermione said glowingly, throwing a leg over the bench. "Professor Flitwick is so nice."

"Yeah! He gave me and Hermione House points," Alaw boasted unashamedly before yanking a pie dish towards her and spooning out liberal amounts onto a plate.

"Wow, on your first day?" George asked in surprise around a mouthful of peas and carrots. "What for?"

"We did the spell the best," Hermione explained and her cheeks went slightly pink.

"Hermione did it first, mine was a bit off, but I managed to drop the book on Goyle's head so it wasn't too bad."

At her words Ron grunted something incoherent and stuck his fork in his mouth a little too forcefully. Alaw gave him a slight frown but decided not to pick a fight. Instead she asked,

"What's the deal with House points anyway? Are they just like character-building bullshit?"

"No," Fred said, shocked. "Blimy didn't anyone tell you? Whichever House has the most points at the end of the year gets the House Cup, and every student in that House gets about twenty galleons each."

"Bloody hell, that's like a hundred odd quid right?"

"Uh, yeah sure…" George said slowly. "Anyway, it's pretty good motivation to behave ourselves, at least when the teachers are around."

"Not that you two care much," Ron interjected moodily. "Slytherin have won it for the last seven years, we can't let those prats get it again."

"Oi, watch it," Alaw said playfully. Ron looked stony faced at her.

"Oh, have I offended you? Sorry," he snapped, not sounding very apologetic at all. Akaw stopped smiling and raised her hands.

"Jesus, that was a bit of over-reaction," she said. "There's no need to be so touchy."

"Why can't you just sit with your own House?" Ron demanded. "Slytherins aren't supposed to hang out with Gryffindors!"

"Oh my _god_ why is everyone so childish about this bloody house issue? What have I done that's so bad?"

"Yes leave her alone," Hermione chipped in, giving Ron a look of great dislike. Fred and George also ganged up on Ron.

"Stop being a tit, Ron," George said flatly. "She's right, you're acting like a five year-old."

"Why's everyone picking on me?!" Ron spluttered, brandishing his fork at Alaw angrily. "She's the weirdo who can't pick a damn house already!"

Alaw had had enough. She got stroppily up once more and snatched up her things, including her plate.

"Well if it bothers you so much I'll clear off! Come on Hermione," she said bluntly.

Hermione was only too happy to leave and as they headed towards a quieter and less stand-offish end of the table, Alaw glanced back. It seemed Fred and George were still giving Ron a piece of their mind and the latter smacked the back of his brother's head sternly.

Alaw only let Ron's attitude bother her for about ten minutes. After that she fell into easy conversation with Hermione and Neville (who'd been sitting alone until they turned up) about their final class of the day. Neville expressed a jealous admiration for their prowess in the Charms class to which the girls had modestly blushed.

"We did sort of cheat," Alaw said dismissively. "We'd been practising all week."

"That's not cheating, that's just good sense," Neville objected. Then he looked down at his open text book and sighed. "Wish I'd prepared more for this Potions class, I'm dead nervous."

"How prepared can you be?" Alaw pointed out. "Surely he won't pick on us on the first day."

"Oh, you clearly don't know Snape do you?" Neville laughed humourlessly.

"We haven't had the pleasure yet," Hermione confirmed dryly. "Why? Do you know him?"

"No, but everyone says he's sadistic with the Gryffidors. He's head of your house though, maybe he'll like you."

Neville nodded at Alaw and it was her turn to snort.

"Me? The intruding muggle-born? Oh yeah, he's going to _love_ me."

The three of them spent the time until their Potions class in the Transfiguration courtyard, so named for the statues of famous Transfiguration teachers at its four corners. It was quite full given how pleasant a day it was and Alaw people-watched idly as Hermione helped Neville with the Wingardium Leviosar charm which he'd struggled with in class. There was a group a few metres from them playing cards except as Alaw watched, some of the cards blew up with sounds like fire-crackers.

She wondered what they were playing and felt a twinge of sadness that she, as a muggle-born, was clueless about so much of wizarding culture. She supposed that was what the 'Wizarding Word' class was for on Fridays. Charity had mentioned she ran a kind of social studies class for those who needed a bit of filling in on everything from fashion to basic history.

In the corner of the courtyard there was a large willow tree, under which there was sizable collection of Slytherins. Theodore Knott was at its centre which Alaw found odd, for many of them looked to be older students. Why would a nobody first year command such politician-like attention?

As if sensing her gaze he lifted his head to stare directly at her. There were a tense few seconds and then he began to get up from the knot in the tree where he was perched.

"Uh, do you want to head down now?" Alaw asked quickly of the other two.

They agreed, and she led them quickly from the courtyard and back towards the front doors. She was by no means afraid of Theodore, or unprepared to face off with him if need-be, but somehow she thought it unwise to pick a fight on her first day. There were more important things to do.

There was no need to ask directions to their Potions class as Alaw knew it was just down the corridor from the Slytherin common room, so the other two followed her down to the dungeons. Despite the warmth outside, the subterranean levels of the castle were chilly and Alaw found herself enjoying the inclusion of a robe in her uniform. The door to the classroom was slightly open when they arrived but there was no one inside, not even Snape. After a muttered debate, the girls and Neville decided they'd better wait inside for the rest of the class so Hermione pushed the door wider.

It creaked as they ventured over the threshold and they looked around, slightly nervous. Instead of desks, the room was filled with workbenches which seated about four each, judging by the number of cauldrons. The walls were lined with shelves, upon which rows and rows of glass jars were sitting. Each jar contained a creature or plant pickled in a different colour of luminous liquid. This, and the guttering candles floating above their heads was the only source of the illumination in the gloomy room.

"Bit creepy," Alaw said under her breath.

She perched on a stool and kicked her dangling legs absently whilst Hermione tried to second guess which chapter of their text book they'd need. The room slowly began to fill up over the next few minutes. Ron Weasley sat at the station next to theirs before he realised they were there. He glanced over awkwardly then engaged Dean and Seamus in conversation, turning his back on Alaw.

"The men here are real charmers," Alaw snorted. "No offence Neville."

"None taken," he replied with a grin.

The smile was wiped away a moment later when the door behind the teacher's desk opened and Severus Snape appeared. His piercing gaze was enough to silence the whole class in a matter of seconds.

"Settle down," he said, sweeping the room once with his dark eyes to make sure everyone was sitting still and paying attention.

He walked to stand before them all and picked up the register. As he started calling off names, Alaw took out her notebook and pen, and turned to a new section where she had already scrawled 'Potions' at the top of the first page.

"Jones," Snape called and Alaw glanced up to find Snape already looking at her.

"Here," she said.

"Clearly," Snape drawled. "So, you are our new celebrity. Ingenious way to make a name for yourself, to become the only muggle-born Slytherin in the House's history. Why are you sitting with the Gryffindors?"

"We - they're my friends," Alaw said, startled. She hadn't been aware of a specific seating allocation, there hadn't been one in Charms or Transfiguration.

"I don't think so, Jones," Snape said quietly. "My students sit with their own House. Come and sit, let's see, ah! Here beside Mr Knott will do I think."

Alaw recoiled at exactly the same time as Theodore. Both looked utterly disgusted at the prospect of sharing a table and it was Theodore who protested first.

"But sir! She's muggle-born, she won't know anything about Potions, and she'll be a disruptive influence!"

"I understand your concern Mr Knott and I apologise for the inconvenience. But I believe Jones will benefit from a more experienced working environment."

Alaw knew she shouldn't glare at a teacher, so instead she threw Theodore the filthiest look she could muster. He returned it in equal measure. When she didn't immediately move, Snape grew impatient.

" _Now_ , Jones," he snapped and with a barely contained huff, Alaw collected her things and carried them to the front of the class.

Theodore made a great show of shifting himself to the very edge of his stool and leaning away as she dumped her stuff and sat beside him.

"Now that Miss Jones has decided to act her age," Snape said nastily, "We can begin."

He began to walk slowly around the dungeon, reciting what sounded very much like a prepared speech. Fred had warned Alaw he might do this and she smile ruefully.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

It was the most ridiculous sounding bunch of crap Alaw had ever heard. Snape spoke in barely more than a whisper, and he took half a century to say a sentence. She found her interest waning almost immediately though the rest of the class were listening with rapt attention. Draco, who was sitting opposite Alaw at the same work bench was hanging on Snape's every word. Alaw began doodling absently in her note book and didn't notice that Snape had stopped talking and was standing right beside her.

"Although it would seem that some of you are so confident in your own skills that you don't think it worth your time to pay attention," he said and Alaw stopped colouring in stars at once.

Her cheeks reddened a little as Pansy Parkinson, who sat beside Draco, giggled annoyingly. Snape was gazing at Alaw and she felt herself unwilling to meet his eyes, for they were dark and seemed to suck in the light.

"So Jones, are you a skilled Potioneer? Do muggle schools even teach Potions?"

"No," Alaw said quietly. Then, thinking she could try and sound a little less pathetic, she added, "I did Chemistry until I was sixteen."

Few people seemed to understand what she was on about and Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" he drawled. "Very well, tell me, what are the properties of the Hemlock plant when boiled for thirty minutes and sprinkled liberally with Ashwinder powder?"

Alaw stared at him. She had read her Charms and Transfiguration books countless times from start to finish over the summer, but the Potions volume had been a dull read. She knew what Hemlock was, it was a poisonous plant, and she thought she recognised the term Ashwinder from _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ , but she hadn't a clue what they both did together.

"You don't know?" Snape asked and Alaw shook her head, her eyes fixed on her prim new school shoes. "Very well, could you tell me where I would find a bezoar?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Alaw saw Hermione's hand in the air. She turned her head slightly and Hermione mouthed something, but Alaw couldn't lip-read from so far away in such bad light.

"I don't know sir," she mumbled and the sniggering from the Slytherins grew in volume. Snape sighed.

"Third time lucky perhaps. What is the difference between Wolf's Bane and Monkshood?"

This time, Alaw raised her head and frowned at a spark of recognition. Wolf's Bane, she had heard of that before. Snape tilted his head and watched her struggle to remember whilst Pansy shook from trying not to laugh.

"Wolf's Bane is a poison," Alaw said slowly, "Emperor Augustus' wife Livia used it in -"

"I did not ask you what Wolf's Bane does, Jones." Snape interrupted coldly, "I asked you what the difference between it and Monkshood is."

Alaw had never felt more trapped. She looked around for help but no one else seemed to know either. No one except Hermione.

"Please sir!" she interjected and everyone turned to look at her. She still had her hand in the air. "Monkshood and Wolf's Bane are the same thing. They also go by the name Aconite, which is Greek for -"

"I don't remember asking you to help Jones, Miss..?" Snape growled.

Hermione blushed and lowered her hand slowly.

"Granger, sir." she supplied, "And I just thought, well, what Alaw said was right, Aconite is poisonous to humans but to Werewolves and Vampires -"

"Five points from Gryffindor," Snape said sharply.

Hermione looked heartbroken and muttering broke out among the Gryffindors.

"Why?" Ron demanded indignantly. Snape turned slowly to look at him.

"Because I do not allow my students to interrupt me, or to show off. There is no need to ask your name of course, the Wealsey hair speaks for itself. I've already had to endure the antics of your brothers and I will not be doing so again. Another five point from Gryffindor, for speaking out of turn."

The Gryffindors looked outraged, and so did Alaw. She forgot her nerves and glared at Snape furiously. That had been so unfair! Hermione had been right and Ron's question wasn't that unreasonable.

Snape set them to making a simple cure for boils and as Alaw crushed up the snake fangs with her pestel, Theodore leant in and said in a low voice,

"Oopsie Jones, looks like you've pissed off the Gryffindors."

"That wasn't my fault!" Alaw hissed back, stamping on the powder so hard that some spilled out onto the bench.

Theodore kept up his flow of nasty comments, helped by Pansy, but Alaw ignored him so thoroughly that she developed a kind of deafness, so she actually didn't hear a lot of what they said. Draco didn't join in with his friends, instead he concentrated very hard on his Potion and by the end of the lesson, Snape had pronounced his work to be the best.

Feeling utterly exhausted by her first day, Alaw was glad to accompany Hermione after the class to Hogsmead and have a drink in Warlock's Nook.


	6. Chapter 5 - Affirmative Action

Chapter Five

Affirmative Action

Apart from their first Potions lesson, Hermione and Alaw thoroughly enjoyed their first week of school. They both did very well in class because they spent so much of their spare time playing with magic and practising enthusiastically. This did not endear them to many people, except Neville, who had taken to hanging out with them and listening to Hermione for tips, and Fred and George, who had been very impressed by how quickly they'd managed to get into trouble.

"Seriously, that's got to be some kind of record," George had said, when Alaw had complained bitterly to the twins about Snape's behaviour. "Even we didn't lose points on our first day!"

"It's not funny!" Alaw snapped as Hermione hung her head ashamedly.

Alaw had quickly brushed off Snape's comment about her Potion skills (she'd already decided it was a dull subject that wasn't worth her time) but his treatment of Hermione had really pissed her off. She had been very upset about getting into trouble and Alaw felt responsible for it, after all, she'd only been trying to help Alaw out.

Ron Weasley certainly saw it that way and had grumped at Alaw the day after the lesson. But Alaw didn't care what he thought anyway. She was far too busy in the first few days to pay him, or the Slytherins, any attention. It didn't take her long to pick out her favourite lessons, Charms, and Defence Against the Dark Arts.

The latter was taught by Professor Lupin, a man who looked older than he was, owing to the scar crossing his face and the premature grey in his hair. He was a very patient and fun teacher, who had won the affection of his class immediately by asking them to clear away the desks and take out their wands. Practical lessons were definitely the best type.

"The most important spell in a wizard's arsenal, is one of protection," he said to which a few people sighed or groaned. Lupin smiled.

"Yes, I know it's not as much fun as jinxing someone but it's a vital skill in case someone decides to jinx _you_. Now then, watch closely."

Alaw didn't think the Protego spell was boring at all, even though it was the first spell she'd encountered that gave her real trouble. She kept putting too much effort into the way it looked, essentially reducing it to an easy illusion Charm which was no use what-so-ever in a fight.

Once again Hermione outshone everyone else by performing the spell perfectly after only a few tries, and Lupin awarded her five points. This cheered her up, for she had been most put out since Monday over loosing points. Alaw thought this would put her in favour with the Gryffindors but for some reason, Hermione's success only made them frown and roll their eyes. Alaw's eyebrows knitted together as Ron and the boys sniggered behind Hermione's back. She could be a little bossy at times but she wasn't mean or spiteful.

History of Magic, which Alaw had been looking forward to enormously, turned out to be a real disappointment. She had loved history since she was a child and before she knew about Hogwarts, she had been planning for a career in it, but Professor Bins managed to kill the whole subject. The most exciting thing he did was float in through the blackboard at the start of the class. He was their only ghost teacher and the story went that he had fallen asleep in an armchair in the staff room one day, then left his body behind when he went to teach. For this reason, the rumour was that he didn't know he was dead.

Dead or not, he certainly had the dullest voice in Christendom and even Alaw, who had been bright-eyed and eager at the start of the class, had slumped forward within fifteen minutes and started doodling again. She could barely remember what the class had been about other than medieval wizards who had done either something amazing, or something terrible, no one was sure. Medieval history wasn't Alaw's strong point anyway.

If one discounted Bins, the ghosts of Hogwarts were very interesting. The brochure had mentioned them but it had still been quite a shock when Alaw accidentally walked straight through one as she returned to the Slytherin common room one evening. It also didn't help that the ghost in question was the Bloody Baron, ghost of Slytherin House and easily the most frightening of the Hogwarts residents.

"Sorry!" Alaw gasped, rubbing her chest which felt like ice.

The Barron paused to stare unnervingly at her for a moment. He was draped in chains and the front of his robes were bloodstained. He didn't speak, only bowing to Alaw before floating through the stone wall to his left.

The other ghosts were less frightening, particularly the patron of Gryffindor Tower, Sir Nicholas, dubbed 'Nearly Headless Nick' by all who passed through the school because his botched beheading had left his head hanging still attached to his neck.

By Friday, Alaw was utterly worn out and would have liked to snooze for a few hours longer, but her only lesson of the day, the mysterious 'Wizarding World', beckoned. When Alaw had dressed and emerged into the common room, she saw Theodore's gang huddled over a coffee table by the exit. Theodore had a quill in his hand and apparently was trying to write a letter. Marcus Flint, a thickset lad whom Alaw had been told played on the Quiddich team, shook his head and crossed something out on the parchment before them all.

"No, we need to say something more forceful!" he muttered. Theodore snatched the quill back.

"Yes alright! He's my uncle, I'll decide what to say. What do you think Draco?"

Draco was perched on the arm of the sofa, a book open in his hand. Alaw had rarely seen him not reading something or other, even when he was with his friends as he was now.

"I think we should stop talking for a moment," he said, without glancing up from _Numerology and Grammatica_.

Theodore frowned but then Draco flicked his finger towards Alaw and the whole group went tense.

"What are you looking at Muggle-Born?" Theodore sneered and Alaw shrugged.

"Nothing."

As she went on her way Pansy Parkinson called after her,

"Off on a date with Longbottom are you? Perfect couple, a wizard who can't do magic, and muggle who thinks she can."

The wall melted back into place behind Alaw, cutting off the laughter and allowing Alaw to hide her anger.

"They're just comments," she murmured to herself, taking a few calming breaths before setting off towards the steps to the Entrance Hall. "Just words. And not very clever one's at that."

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked when Alaw sat down for breakfast. "You look upset."

"I'm fine," Alaw said, trying to sound casual. "So, what d'you reckon this Wizarding World thing'll be like?"

"I'm not sure, there aren't any set books for it," Hermione replied.

Neville, who was sitting opposite them, glanced up from his eggs and bacon.

"What do you think I should do whilst you're gone?" he asked.

"You could start on that homework Professor Bins set us," Hermione suggested.

"Oh god, I forgot about that," Alaw groaned. "I say we leave that be, we've got all weekend to do it. Why don't you go down to the Greenhouses? Sprout said she wanted volunteers."

Herbology had been the only lesson so far that Neville had actually enjoyed and once they'd all finished their meal, he had decided to take Alaw's advice. As he left the castle through the front doors, the girls climbed the staircase to the first floor.

"It's a shame he doesn't hang out with the Gryffindor boys more often," Alaw said, jerking her head back towards Neville.

"I think he's a bit intimidated by them," Hermione said, wisely, "They're very rowdy."

"But Neville's known them since he was a kid," Alaw protested. "If I came to university with my mates, I'd hang out with them all the time!"

They paused their conversation as they arrived outside their classroom. The door was open and they saw a few people already sitting at the tables, which were arranged like those in secondary schools with many chairs around one.

"Come in girls, sit down," Charity called when she spotted them.

When Alaw and Hermione took their seats the small gang of muggle-borns was complete and Charity smiled at them all.

"Good morning people, welcome to Wizarding World. Think of this more as a workshop than a class, it'll be your opportunity to ask any questions you may have about life as wizards and witches, beyond what we covered in London. I'll try and fill in the gaps in your knowledge, save you some embarrassment around your new friends. Today I thought we'd cover a bit of history, I know Bins' class can be a little hard to follow."

There were a few titters and rustling as notebooks and pens came out. Charity leant back in her seat and began.

"So, first and foremost, what is magic? As wizards and witches you should have a real understanding of magic as an aspect of science, not just the answer for things we don't understand. In the muggle world, magic would probably be regarded as a fourth branch of science alongside chemistry, physics and biology.

Although we still don't fully understand how the magical gene came into being, a few colleagues of mine in New Zealand have access to human genome project, and have determined that it arose around 100, 000 years ago in the Great Rift Valley. Homo sapiens have been around about twice as long, so as much as the Pureblood radicals like to shout that we're a completely separate species, were not. Muggles and Wizards are the same apart from a small genetic mutations which allows us to access the field of energy on earth which is magic."

A few people, Hermione among them, were taking furious notes even though Charity had assured them this wasn't a formal lesson. Alaw on the other hand had forgotten to pick up her pen and was drinking in every word the Professor said. She had been dying to know the details of her special genes for months and none of her books or pamphlets had been able to give her satisfactory explanations.

"So with this in mind, you may ask how people like you can exist. If a magical gene is passed from parent to child, most strongly through the female line if you're interested, how can muggles produce a magical offspring? Well as you've been told it's to do with Squibs. Squibs are not muggles, they are genetically identical to wizards and are born with the magical gene, but have no access to it. It is closed to them, but they still have it, and pass it on to their children.

Now this gene can stay within a bloodline for generations, many hundreds of years in some cases until one child comes along which has a strong, non-defective magical gene. That's all of you."

She smiled around the table and Alaw realised she'd been listening with her mouth slightly open like she was hypnotised. She quickly closed it.

It was a very interesting class even though they didn't use any magic. Charity did a quick run through of wizarding history, highlighting the major events the other students would have grown up knowing and therefore wouldn't be taught in History class. They covered the first recorded use of magic, to the development of spells, the standardisation of magic by the Romans and their conquest of Britain. Then they moved on to muggle fear of magic and eventually the formation of the Ministry of Magic.

Alaw knew most of this already from her History of Magic text book but it was nice to have it explained to her properly, set out in a neat story which she could understand. She was shocked when Charity dismissed them and she checked her watch to find that they had been there for over two hours.

"Next week we'll cover major world events and then we can talk about life as wizards and witches. We'll start with politics and maybe we'll have time to cover fashion. Ah, Alaw? Can I have a word?"

Charity beckoned to Alaw who hung back with Hermione as the other muggle-borns shuffled out.

"I was wondering how things have been," Charity said and Alaw raised her shoulders.

"Fine," she said, truthfully. "Great actually, I love lessons."

"That's good, but I meant in the common room. Are you being treated well?"

"I don't really sit in there very often. Mostly people ignore me but that's ok."

Charity looked just as concerned as she had the last time she had asked Alaw this question but seeing that Alaw was genuinely alright seemed to deter her from pursuing the subject.

"I've been pondering the Sorting Hat's decision," Charity said. "Now, you're sure it mentioned Merlin?"

"Yes, but maybe it was just swearing. You know, like we say 'oh my god'?"

"Hmm, you know, if you're interested, I can find out what your bloodline may be."

"You can?" Alaw asked in great surprise.

"Well it's no guarantee but I could do some digging if you wanted to find out why the Hat was so keen."

"Yeah! That'd be great!" Alaw said enthusiastically.

She'd always wondered where her ancestors had come from and now there was an even better reason to find out. Charity promised to look into it and Alaw left the classroom with a bounce in her step.

The weekend found Alaw very tired, which was unsurprising when one considered how pumped up she'd been throughout the week. She spent most of Saturday in bed and on the Sunday she polished off some homework with Hermione. Nothing untoward happened in those two days but Alaw kept noticing some of the Slytherins, specifically Theodore's gang whom she had come to call 'the Old Families', giving her odd looks.

They weren't the mistrustful and spiteful glares she'd endured since her Sorting, they were excited and mysterious. Pansy Parkinson kept giggling whenever she saw Alaw with made her very uncomfortable and prompted her to check her reflection in the mirror five times a day to check she didn't have something on her face.

The reason for all this odd attention became evident on Monday morning when the post owls arrived. Still unused to this, Alaw ducked and kept her head bowed as she walked in and feathery projectiles kept swooping over her. As she passed the Slytherin table, something very odd happened. Many of them started to clap and cheer, though snidely. She paused and gazed at them in bewilderment. Theodore had stood up a few metres away and was holding a newspaper up, tapping it and grinning maliciously.

"Think you'll find this morning's paper interesting Jones, you should give it a read!" he called.

With a mounting sense of foreboding, Alaw jogged to the Gryffindor table and slid in next to Hermione who had a Brown Owl in front of her.

"Does anyone have a Daily Prophet?" Alaw asked quickly.

"Yes, here," Hermione said, untying the paper from the leg of the owl before it flew off.

But before Alaw could take it, Neville lunged across the table and grabbed it out of Hermione's hand. The girls stared at him.

"Neville, what's wrong?" Hermione asked, looking mildly concerned.

"You don't want to read that," Neville said, his eyes wide and the paper clutched to his chest.

"Read what?" asked Fred as he, George, Lee Jorden and Ron came over.

"Nothing!" Neville said in a panic.

George tugged the paper out of his grasp and unrolled it with a business like frown on his face. His eyes went wide too and he swore loudly.

"What is it?" Alaw asked, more urgently.

"Nothing!" George said, clearly lying.

Across the hall people, mostly the Old Families, were starting to laugh. Many turned their heads to look at Alaw and a few called out to her.

"Oi, let me see that thing," Alaw said, leaning across the table and reaching for the paper.

The boys looked highly reluctant to show it to her and she frowned dangerously.

"George," she said warningly and he slowly relinquished his grip on the Prophet.

Hermione tilted her head to read the front page over Alaw's shoulder, then made a scandalised noise that was halfway between a yelp and a hiss.

 **SHOCK SORTNG AT HOGWARTS!**

 _ **In a freak turn of events at Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry, an eighteen year old witch has become the first muggle-born ever to be Sorted into Slytherin House.**_

 _The annual Sorting of new students into their houses was marred on the 1_ _st_ _of September when Alaw Jones, a witch born to two muggle parents from North Wales, was Sorted into Slytherin. Eyewitnesses report that the historic Sorting Hat took over five minutes to decide on a house for Miss Jones. No immediate action was taken to determine whether or not the Hat was defective and the muggle-born was allowed to join her fellow Housemates without question._

 _Naturally, this startling revelation has been met with outrage by the wider wizarding community. Slytherin House has famously been closed to all witches and wizards of muggle decent since its formation by Salazar Slytherin._

" _It's a disgrace!" said a Slytherin alumni who wished to remain anonymous. "This is yet another disgusting attempt to 'modernize' Hogwarts, by forcing through radical new changes without the consultation of the governors, Ministry or wizarding community. This has all the hallmarks of an aggressive move by Dumbledore."_

 _Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts and Chief Mugwump of the Wizzangamot has long been a champion of muggle-born rights and refused to comment when questioned by a Daily Prophet reporter. Other teachers at the school has defended the move, calling it 'a breath of fresh air'._

 _Some have expressed concern of another kind. Lucius Malfoy, governor of Hogwarts and parent of school attendee had this to say,_

" _The ramifications of this move go way beyond spitting in the face of arguably the greatest wizarding institution in Britain. Blurring the lines between Pureblood and Muggle-born means forcing a whole sector of society who has never experienced true wizarding life to compete with students who are far above their level of skill. It is cruel and badly though-through."_

 _Whilst many parents are calling for the muggle-born to be removed from Slytherin House and placed elsewhere, and magical historians call for the Sorting Hat (which is believed to be well over a thousand years old) to be examined for determination, the School management remains silent._

 _The muggle-born in question was also unavailable for comment._

 _Ritta Skeeta, Daily Prophet Reporter_

Alaw didn't know what to say when she finished the article. She half wished she hadn't read the thing in any detail because she could feel a painful lump in her throat.

"Well," she said, trying to sound indifferent, "What a load of tripe."

Hermione seized the offending article and rolled it up quickly to hide it from view. She looked very upset.

"Are – are you alright?" she asked Alaw in a hushed voice and Alaw nodded with a very forced smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine, doesn't bother me," she said.

The hall was ringing with laughter by this point and almost everyone was watching Alaw to see how she was reacting. Fred and George turning in their seats and snarled at the closest gawkers to shut up whilst Ron made a rude gesture across the hall towards Theodore Knott. Alaw now realised what his gang had been writing the other night in the common room, it must have been a letter of protest to the Daily Prophet, and of course their parents had lent of the paper to print the article.

"I'm fine, really," Alaw protested as Hermione laid a comforting hand on her back. "But, uh, I just remembered I left something in the common room, I'll be back in a minute."

She scrambled to get up from the bench and practically ran from the hall, uproarious laughter following her all the way. She knew Hermione was sure to follow her so she sprinted from the front doors and once outside, turned right into the paved courtyard. The rain spattering down mingled with Alaw's tears as she fought not to lose her cool. There was no one around however, and once she'd climbed into a niche in the wall where a gargoyle had once stood, she let herself cry in earnest.

It would be very hard for anyone to find her in the niche and she felt safe enough to pull her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them and rest her forehead. This was so unfair, she hadn't asked to be put in Slytherin! All she'd wanted was to come to Hogwarts and learn magic, she'd had no idea the politics involved.

She'd just cried herself into silence when the bell rang inside the castle. Alaw sniffed and uncurled herself to perch on the edge of the niche, thinking. It was Transfiguration now, and Professor McGonagall wasn't the kind of teacher to forgive bunking off unless you had a damn good reason. A tantrum didn't qualify as a damn good reason.

And there was another thing, Alaw was here to learn magic and she wasn't about to let a little shit like Theodore rob her of that pleasure. With another, more determined, sniff, Alaw jumped down, scrubbed her face on the back of her sleeve and ran back inside.

"Sorry I'm late Professor," Alaw panted when she skidded into the Transfiguration classroom.

As McGonagall turned from the blackboard, the rest of the class also glanced around. A few put their heads together to whisper whilst Theodore smiled triumphantly as Alaw. She ignored him and dropped into the last remaining seat at the back of the class.

"We hadn't quite started yet," said McGonagall passively, "But take a care to finish your breakfast more promptly next week Miss Jones. Mr Knott, face the front."

Theodore gave Alaw one last malicious look before doing as he was told.

Alaw had to endure the Slytherins sneered at her all lesson, and even the Hufflepuffs couldn't help glancing curiously across the aisle at her, whispering to each other. McGonagall wasn't at all happy with their work that day and told them in no uncertain terms that she expected better from her students.

Charms was the same, only this time Alaw had Hermione trying and failing to ask her if she was alright every five minutes. Alaw simply ignored her and concentrated on producing the Lumos charm. It worked a lot better than it had in her bedroom and Flitwick stopped at her desk to praise her and award five points to Slytherin.

But the worst experience of the day by far, was Potions. Eager to avoid the Slytherins cornering her outside the classroom, Alaw waited until the very last second to join the queue, just as Snape was opening the door. He pointed them silently in and as Alaw passed him, his dark eyes fell on her for a moment. His face was unreadable, so Alaw quickly averted her gaze. She tried hovering hopefully by Hermione and Neville's workbench but as Snape swept past on his way to the teacher's desk he said,

"Take your usual place Jones."

Scowling, Alaw dropped into the seat beside Theodore who, unlike last time, looked delighted at having her at his mercy. As Snape set them their task for the lesson (to brew an antidote for common poisons), Theodore leant in and mutter under his breath,

"Did you enjoy the paper this morning, muggle?"

"Yeah it was great," said Alaw in an off-hand voice.

Hermione had predicted a few days ago that this would be a potion they were expected to know for their end of year exams. It was an extremely important potion to know after all, if one did not learn healing spells as well as one ought to. Alaw slid off her stool and went to collect the ingredients she would need from the store cupboard. Had she been sitting with Hermione and Neville, she would have brought back enough for the whole table but she wasn't prepared to do anything nice for Theodore, Draco and Pansy.

On her way back she passed Theodore who tried to trip her up which would have sent bottles flying, but Alaw simply stepped over his foot and sat down once more. She had been wise to that trick since primary school thank you very much.

The antidote was not a difficult potion to brew, although you did have to keep an eye on your timing. She let the concoction simmer for a few minutes as she crushed up the unicorn horn, taking care not to spill any this time as Snape had warned them how expensive it was. Snape seemed to be deliberately staying away from her work bench, instead choosing to terrorise Neville who looked on the point of tears. This gave Theodore plenty of time to sneer and jeer at Alaw.

"I wouldn't get to comfortable in the common room Jones," he hissed at her, though he had to duck away when she stirred her cauldron vigorously enough to catch him with her elbows.

Alaw ignored him.

"Or even Hogwarts really," Theodore pressed. "People aren't very happy that you broke the system."

Still, Alaw said nothing, now adding Bezoar to the Potion.

"I mean, my uncles have been talking about paying Dumbledore a little visit. I'll bet this wasn't an accident at all, I'll bet it was some kind of affirmative action bullshit."

The Potion was shimmering now, as the text book said it should.

"They might pay you a visit too Jones," said Theodore menacingly. "And they're very good at making things look like accidents."

Alaw felt a chill run down her spine but she managed not to look scared. If that happened, Theodore would know he was getting to her and things would become ten times worse. They nearly managed to make it through the lesson without any other incidences. Alaw was just looking for a vile in which to put her completed potion, when Pansy 'tripped' on her way to the front desk and something dropped into Alaw's cauldron.

At once, great plumes of acrid black smoke rose out of it and engulfed Alaw who coughed and back backwards off her stool. She hit the stone floor painfully whilst the dungeon erupted in laughter. Snape was on the scene in a matter of seconds.

"What happened here?" he asked sharply as Alaw picked herself up.

"She put something in my Potion!" Alaw cried, jabbing a finger at Pansy who stood by looking utterly innocent.

"Oopsie, sorry I was so clumsy," she said, barely containing her malicious grin.

If Alaw had expected justice, she was wildly mistaken. Snape looked down his hooked nose at Pansy, then Alaw, and finally the Potion.

"Accidents happen," he said smoothly and Alaw's eyes boggled.

"But sir!" she said indignantly. "She ruined my work on purpose! I haven't got anything to hand in!"

"Then you'll just have to brew the Potion in your own time then, won't you Jones?" said Snape silkily. "And be sure to hand it in to me before the next lesson."

Alaw felt the colour rise in her cheeks and the familiar ringing in her ears that signalled she was about to lose her temper big time.

"That's not fair!" she snarled, following in Snape's wake as he glided back to the teacher's desk. "She did it deliberately!"

"Watch your tone, Jones," said Snape dangerously. "Dumbledore may be protecting you for the moment, but I do not allow my students to speak to me in that manner."

Alaw set her burning glare on Snape who looked ready for a fight. After battling with her anger, Alaw backed down sullenly.

"Sorry sir," she growled, stomping back to the workbench to stuff her belongings back into her bag.

People murmured all around her, some still sniggering. Pansy looked gleeful and Theodore chuckled before whispering,

"You see? Nobody cares what you have to say. Why would they? You're just a Mudblood."

WHAM!

The whole class gasped as Theodore reeled backward, his hands clutching his bloody nose which Alaw had driven her fist into. Alaw was breathing hard, never had she felt such rage and she would have been quite prepared to punch Theodore again had Snape not gotten between them.

"Detention Miss Jones!" he hissed furiously. "How dare you, how _dare_ you! Get out of my sight!"

Alaw grabbed her bag and ran from the dungeon, with everyone staring at her as she went.


	7. Chapter 6 - Tripping

**Sorry for not updating in a few weeks, I've been on holiday. Thank you for the reviews and in answer to your question, Harry is set to be mentioned later on, if not make an actual appearance. It will make sense in due course. As to Knott, I made a mistake when I typed up the first few chapters but I've decided to keep[ it that way because I think its amusing. Don't forget to R &R!**

Chapter Six

Tripping

To most Hogwarts students, the first few weeks of term pass in a blur of small explosions, flashes, bangs and the exasperated tellings off of teachers. Alaw, Neville and Hermione were no exception - although the latter received far fewer rows than her friends. It was to be expected when one unleashed a bunch of hyperactive teens on a school brimming with magic. But for Alaw, September wasn't as fun or exciting as it should have been, because she was always on the look-out for an attack.

The article in the Daily Prophet seemed to be the signal many had been waiting for, the green light for them to start harassing Alaw wherever she went. She could barely walk down a corridor without someone aiming a trip jinx at her back, or else quoting the article at her in the Great Hall and outside lessons.

Some people, like Fred and George, had been outraged by the smear campaign and went out of their way to defend Alaw when they saw people gloating about it. Charity Burbage had been particularly upset and had vowed to Alaw that she would hound the Prophet until it publically apologised for its behaviour and sacked Rita Skeeta.

Others were simply delighted at Alaw's humiliation. Theodore Knott in particular took every opportunity he could to shove, pinch and prod Alaw when they passed in the corridors. He'd also taken a leaf out of Pansy's book and started trying to sabotage Alaw's work in every Potions class. Snape, of course, never reprimanded him because he was still furious with Alaw about her attack on his star pupil.

The detention with Snape had been horrible. He had set Alaw to disembowelling an entire barrel of horned toads by hand and without gloves. It had taken three whole days to rid her fingernails of the frog guts which was the time it took Hermione to find and master the scouring charm. It hadn't helped Alaw's temper when she'd returned from her detention, very late and completely exhausted, to find that her door had been plastered with copies of the damn Daily Prophet, some with permanent sticking charms.

Hermione kept urging Alaw to report the numerous incidents of harassment and bullying, some of which were quite nasty, but Alaw was adamant, she would not go running to a teacher. Not unless things got serious, anyway. She'd been through this in muggle school, reporting the bullies simply didn't work, in fact, it often made things worse. The best thing to do was to ignore them and show they wouldn't get any fun out of her.

It would be a few weeks into the new term before things improved for Alaw. She had taken to hanging back in class so she was the last one out, or else, dashing off before anyone else even left their seats. So she took her time packing her bag after Defence Against the Dark Arts one Wednesday morning, waiting for the rest of the class to file out. Hermione usually waited with her but the Gryffindors had had to dash off for Transfiguration.

Most people were hopping on every other step as they shuffled off, for they had been practising jelly-legs jinxes that day. Three lessons on, and Alaw still hadn't mastered the shield charm so she was suffering worse than most. Theodore's gang loitered by the door, obviously hoping to ambush Alaw, but Professor Lupin waved them off.

"Off you go, and don't forget to practise that charm safely, I'm not giving you permission to jinx whomever you like," he said briskly, waving them all out of the classroom with sullen looks on their faces.

Alaw distinctly saw Crab and Goyle cracking their knuckles threateningly at her before they galumphed off after their leader. Alaw was now alone in the room with Lupin who was collecting up all the cushions he'd spread on the floor before they started practising, as accidents were a common occurrence in this sort of lesson.

"Would you give me a hand with these, Alaw?" he asked pleasantly and Alaw let out an inaudible sigh of relief.

"Of course," she said, bending down and picking up a fluffy pink pillow which just a few minutes previously had saved her from cracking her skull on the floor.

She didn't begrudge doing the work by hand, Charity often warned them not to resort to magic for every little thing, or else they'd become lazy. Indeed, during her detention with Snape, the Potions Master seemed to have expected Alaw to throw a tantrum when he told her not to touch her wand, but Alaw hadn't expected to be able to anyway.

Once all the cushions were neatly stacked away in the store cupboard, Alaw lingered, wondering if she could stall any longer.

"Um, sir? Is there anything else you need?" she asked hopefully.

"No, no, I think that's everything. I won't keep you any longer." said Lupin, closing the clasp on his briefcase.

Then he glanced up and frowned at the disappointed expression on her face.

"Is something bothering you?" he asked and Alaw shook her head.

"No, I'm fine," she said, unconvincingly. Lupin's eyes flicked towards the door and he sighed, putting his case back on the desk which he leant against.

"I assume the aftermath of the article hasn't quite blown itself out yet, then?" he prompted.

"No, it hasn't," Alaw sighed sourly. "And now everyone seems to think it's ok to have a go, cause, you know, if the precious _Prophet_ says I'm a scheming proletarian then obviously it must be true."

Lupin did not smile, his expression was sympathetic.

"It is a vile thing to be publically villainized. I know that Dumbledore is furious about the matter. He's had that edition of the Prophet withdrawn from circulation, apparently they were thinking of reprinting it."

"Great," Alaw groaned.

She picked at a loose thread on her satchel, reflecting bitterly that there was little Dumbledore or the staff could do if public opinion was so strongly against her.

"I hate those Purebloods!" she cried suddenly, and fiercely. "It's not fair! Why can they get away with this? If this happened in the Muggle-World, everyone would throw a fit. Racism isn't okay in my world!"

"There are those who fight against it here, too," said Lupin, gently. "But the voices of the old families shout louder."

"Because they're loaded," Alaw reflected, now twisting the handle of her bag like she was trying to give it a Chinese burn.

"Unfortunately, there is more than a grain of truth in that, but things are changing for the better, I assure you. It may not seem like it, but that article was not as well received as some have led you to believe."

Alaw knew he was referring to Theodore and his cronies.

"I just wish I could fight back, you know, but I can't even do a simple Shield Charm!" she complained. "It's an easy spell but I just can't get it right! Am I just stupid, or is Theodore right and my magic is weaker because of my parents?"

"Blood is not strength," Lupin said sharply and for the first time, he looked angry.

He put a hand on Alaw's shoulder and gave her a very direct look. Despite the scar, his features had a softness one associated with kindness and a gentle nature.

"Listen to me, never _ever_ let anyone convince you that they are better than you. We are all human, muggles and wizards alike. Whichever blood run in our veins makes not the slightest difference to our abilities, or the kind of lives we choose to lead. If you allow yourself to be ashamed of your blood, then the naysayers have won already. All you can do is strive to prove them wrong, do you understand?"

Alaw nodded shakily. In that moment, more than ever, she wished her parents were here. Her mother would tell her to listen to what Lupin said and study hard, whilst her father would hug her tightly and assure her that she was loved, and to ignore the bullies.

"I wish I could fight back," Alaw repeated in a small voice.

Lupin seemed to consider her for a moment, and then said,

"Alaw, how would you like extra tutoring sessions with me?"

Alaw raised her head in surprise.

"Really?!" she asked eagerly.

"Certainly, I am already offering them to a couple of students I believe need a leg up. We could work on that Shield Charm."

"Y-yes! Thank-you, if you've got the time that would be great!"

"Good, well, I'll let you know when I have time and you can drop in then."

The prospect of extra Defence lessons sustained Alaw for the rest of the week. Though the weather outside the castle developed a little bite as October approached, Alaw's spirits lifted so that she could walk past the Slytherins with her head held high, rather than drooped ashamedly forward.

The pranks by no means stopped, but Alaw did become quite adept at sensing when a trip jinx was coming, and jumping at just the right moment. Once or twice, a teacher would catch them at it and Theodore and his gang would have a few points taken away from Slytherin. This didn't bother Alaw, the thought of the prize money at the end of the year didn't entice her nearly as much as it did Ron, who gloated every time Slytherin lost points.

He'd stopped bothering Alaw in the wake of the article, perhaps feeling ashamed of himself, but they didn't spend any more time than was required in each other's company. Until the last week of September, of course.

Alaw had received a letter at breakfast on Tuesday from Professor Lupin, telling her he was free that morning and inviting her to a tutoring session in his classroom. So, after saying goodbye to Hermione and promising to catch up with her at dinner, Alaw climbed up to the Defence Against the Dark Arts room. When she entered, she found the other people she'd be sharing the session with were Neville and Ron. Neville smiled but Ron looked shifty.

"What are you doing here?" he asked bluntly.

"I'm being tutored too," Alaw replied coolly.

Before Ron could do more than huff irritably, Lupin arrived, levitating the pile of cushions before him and smiling when he saw they were all there.

"Good afternoon," he said pleasantly, allowing the pillows to drop to the floor and scatter haphazardly. "Shall we crack on, then?"

It was much better than their normal Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons. Alaw felt much more relaxed without the Slytherins jeering at her and after an hour's hard work, she managed, finally, to produce a very weak Shield Charm. Neville seemed happier than he normally did too, and it was he who successfully broke Alaw's shield with a well-aimed Impediment jinx. He was mortified when it caused Alaw to lose her footing and fall flat on her back, but she got up almost at once and congratulated him on a good spell.

Ron didn't do nearly as well as the other two and was scowling darkly by the time Lupin let them go. He didn't say a word the whole way down to the Great Hall, not even joining in when Neville and Alaw began discussing Quidditch, the sport Alaw knew full well Ron was obsessed with. When they approached the Gryffindor table, today smelling deliciously of curry, Ron marched away and plonked himself down between Dean and Seamus, whilst Neville and Alaw joined Hermione.

"He's a grumpy git, isn't he?" Alaw said conversationally, jerking her head towards Ron as she scooped a spoonful of rice onto her plate and opened a taurine of steaming tikka masala.

As the week progressed, wet clouds continued to circle the turrets of the castle and umbrellas began to be carried by the smarter students.

"Protego," Alaw muttered quietly to herself as she ambled slowly across the vegetable patch. The damp earth beneath her trainers squelched on every step and the occasional fat rain-drop fell on her head.

A couple of tutoring sessions on, Alaw thought she was doing quite well with her shield charm, but she still had trouble producing it under pressure. Lupin said it was just a lack of confidence, so Alaw practised everywhere she could. She'd been shouted at the previous day by the caretaker, Argus Filch, for casting charms in the corridor between classes. Flich was a middle-aged man with a ruddy face and quivering jowls who seemed at constant war with the student body for whom he harboured an irrational grudge. He had a personal vendetta against the Weasley Twins, whose dearest ambition it was to give the caretaker's faithful cat, Mrs Norris, a good kick.

"Protego!" Alaw tried again, not really watching where she was going as her feet carried her automatically around the path at the foot of the Astronomy Tower. A small field of magic engulfed the tip of her wand.

"There you are, Jones," said Theodore's Knott's drawling voice behind Alaw.

The shield sputtered and died as Alaw whipped around. Theodore it seemed, along with a dozen or so of his friends, had been waiting in the shadow of the tower and they were all smirking at Alaw.

Alaw ran, which seemed the only sensible thing to do, pelting towards the archway which would take her to the Transfiguration Courtyard but she barely made it five feet before a jinx hooked her around the ankles and sent her crashing down. She landed painfully in a puddle and her robes and face were spattered with mud. The Slytherins guffawed and took the opportunity to circle her as she picked herself up.

"What's your hurry? We haven't got class for ages!" Theodore said, watching maliciously as Alaw wiped her face on her sleeve.

He had more people with him than usual, Alaw noted with dread, and many of them were from older years and therefore bound to know curses she certainly didn't. It looked like Theodore had planned this ambush very carefully.

"Look," Alaw began wearily, keeping her wand at the ready whilst praying a teacher would turn up soon. "Can't we just drop this, already? We're a bit old for these games."

"Games?" asked Theodore sweetly, "You think this is a game? I'm afraid this is a deadly serious business, Jones. Didn't you learn anything from the Daily Prophet? No one cares what happened to a filthy little mudblood like yourself."

Alaw gripped her wand more tightly and glared at Theodore.

"Don't you dare call me that!" she shouted. "That's a disgusting thing to call someone!"

Alaw remembered the distasteful look on Charity Burbage's face when she had urged the muggle-borns, way back in August, to report to a teacher at once if they heard anyone using the word 'mudblood'. She'd compared it to a number of highly offensive terms in muggle culture that she'd been almost too embarrassed to say allowed. It was Thedore's use of this word in Potions that had triggered Alaw's violent attack on him because she understood the implication perfectly. Dirty blood. Common Blood. Inferior Birth.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm using it to describe something unpleasant, then, isn't it?" said Theodore casualy.

The tip of Alaw's wand was pointed directly into his face and she was feeling a mounting desire to curse him with one of the dodgier spells the Twins had shown her.

"I don't think we can blame her for not knowing how things are, Theodore," said Draco Malfoy in a voice of mock pity. "She's was dragged up by Muggles, remember, she doesn't know any better."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Theodore conceded, "Let me explain how things are in the real world, Jones. On the one hand, you have wizards, I mean, _real_ wizards. We run the Ministry, the Banks, the Schools and the Hospitals. And then we have people like you, who do very important jobs too. We need the lower classes to keep everything ticking over."

"Yeah!" sniggered Draco, "Where would we be without scrubbers and whores?"

The crowd of boys erupted with cruel laughter and Alaw felt a blush creep up her cheeks.

"Shut up!" she hissed at Draco but he put his hands on hip hips and thrust out his chest.

"Want some company, good sir?" he said in a high-pitched voice, winking and posturing whilst his friends doubled up with laughter.

A second yeah called Marcus Flint made kissing faces.

"Oh, yes, sir, I'm very good. Just ignore the smell!" he imitated.

"Flippendo!" Alaw shouted furiously.

A bolt of blue light clipped Flint on the shoulder but he was a bulky lad and didn't go sprawling as he ought to have.

"Oh, she's getting feisty, boys!" Theodore crowed. "We have no choice but to defend ourselves."

He raised his wand and cried, "Tarantallegra!"

He cast the jinx too fast for Alaw to defend herself and the next second, her feet were flailing wildly. The Slytherins could hardly breathe they were laughing so hard.

"Please!" Alaw whimpered. "Stop!"

"And miss the show?" Thedore gasped. "I don't think so. I'm only teaching you a lesson, Jones. This is one of the many ways your kind can earn their keep! Entertaining the higher classes."

Alaw threw herself to the ground so she could get a steady shot at her legs.

"Finite Incentatem!" she said desperately and she stopped twitching.

"Now, Jones, you're ruining all the fun," said Theodore scolding. "Dentorgio!"

"Protego!" Alaw yelled, scrambling to her feet as she deflected the hex. The group started to shoot off curses with frightening rapidity and Alaw backed into the wall of the Astronomy Tower. The spells beat relentlessly against hr flickering shield until it finally shattered.

"Ouch!" Alaw shrieked as a stinging hex caught her in the face and left an angry whelt there.

"Expeliarmus!" someone cried and Alaw's wand flew out of her hand.

She made a dive for it but Crabbe kicked it away.

"You just won't learn will you, Jones?" Theodore asked, like she was naughty child. "We've told you the way of things in the Wizarding World, and yet you still think you're better than you are."

BANG!

"Ouch!"

"All you need to do is accept that your blood is just as filthy as the puddle you're lying in,"

BANG!

"Aw!"

"Ask to transfer to a house reserved specialy for scum like yourself,"

BANG!

"Stop it, please!"

"And we'll leave you alone. I'm sure you'll make a very fine Prostitute one day."

BANG!

Alaw sobbed and curled up into a ball, her hands over her head to protect her face and they bombarded her with stinging hexes, tickling jinxes and a spell which causes painful boils to erupt up her left arm, and the left side of her face. This went on for a minute or two until Catrin was whimpering and shuddering in fain and fear. 'What if they kill me?' she thought to herself, 'What if they actually do it?'

Apparently some of the Slytherins were starting to think the same thing because after someone, Crabbe, Alaw thought, hit her with a badly cast Incendio charm which burnt a few holes in her robes, a few lowered their wands. They looked a little worried.

"Uh, Theodore?" Draco asked uncertainly, "Maybe we've taught her a lesson now."

"I doubt it," said Theodore viciously. "You know how thick her kind can be, why are you all stopping?"

Under orders from their leader, the boys redoubled their spells and jeers, although a few looked like their hearts weren't in it so much anymore. Then, a furious bellow ripped the air.

"Get away from 'er, you little monsters!"

Alaw parted her fingers and saw Slytherins scatter as something huge and hairy ran towards them from the courtyard archway. The man was giant and he had a bushy beard and hair which made him quite wild and frightening as he brandished his bowlisied fist at the fleeing gang.

"Cowards!" the giant roared. "Twelve on one? You wai' till I get my 'ands on ya!"

When the flying heels of Theodore and his cronies disappeared around the side of of the tower, the giant turned to Alaw, still curled on the ground.

"Here," he said sympathetically, extending a hand to help her onto her feet. "Ruddy gits, little shits, the lot of 'em. Oh, an those look nasty, too."

He took stock of Alaw's spots and bruises.

"Thank you," she said, still shaking from head to toe. "For chasing them off."

"Only wish I'd've got here sooner, might have caught one of 'em. Anyway, let's get you to the Hospital Wing. Can you walk?"

"Yes," said Alaw, after taking a few experimental steps.

As she limped alongside the giant, he kindly offered her an elbow to support herself with.

"Who were they? I couldn't get a proper look 'cause of the damn rain, did you see their faces?" he asked as they mounted the marble staircase. The people who passed them stared and Alaw imagined the news of her trip to the matron would soon spread.

"No," she lied.

The word was out of her mouth before she knew what she was saying. She frowned, but didn't correct herself.

"Come on, you must'a recognised one of 'em," the giant pressed.

"No," Alaw repeated. "They came at me from behind."

She wasn't sure why she wasn't ratting Theodore out there and then. It was her chance to have him punished, possibly even kicked out of school, but she just didn't want to talk. The giant seemed to understand because he dropped it and looked at her sadly.

"You're Alaw, aren't you?" he asked in a friendly voice. Catrin nodded.

"Aye, I remember you from the Sorting. I'm Hagrid, I'm the Game Keeper."

"You're friends with Ron's family," Alaw ventured timidly, remembering Fred and George talking about Hagrid.

"That's right, good people, the Weasleys. You friends with Ron, then?"

"Not really," Alaw mumbled.

They had reached the Hospital Wing, a bright room, owing to the high windows above each metal framed bed.

"Poppy?" Hagrid called and a witch in a green pinafore and a cream robes emerged from the office to the right of the min door.

"Oh, dear," she sighed upon catching sight of Alaw. "Backfiring jinx, was it? Or have the fire-crabs been acting up again, Hagrid?"

"Nothing like that, Poppy," said Hagrid gravely. "Poor kid was a attacked. Never thought I'd see the like, must'a been at least ten of 'em."

Madam Pomfrey looked suitably shocked but she recovered almost at once, beckoning Alaw over to a bed.

"Sit yourself down, Miss Jones, I'll fetch a salve. Thank you for bringing her in, Hagrid."

"No problem. I'm off to see Professor Dumbledore about this," Hagrid growled.

"Oh, no!" Alaw said quickly. "You don't have to bother him with this!"

"'Course I do!" said Hagrid in surprise. "Can't let them get away with this! I'll catch up later to make sure you're okay."

He smiled at Alaw in a reassuring way and left the Hospital Wing. Alaw gazed glumly after him. She'd worked out why she hadn't told Hagrid who had attacked her, for when he had mentioned running to the headmaster, a swoop of fear had leapt in her heart. She was terrified of the retribution that would come her way if Theodore thought she'd blabbed. Even if she did come clean and tell Dumbledore everything, she felt sure Theodore would get off with nothing but slap on the wrist.

Madam Pomfrey didn't ask many questions besides which spells Alaw thought had been used on her. The salve, which smelt strongly of ginger, soothed the boils and within a few minutes they'd started to fade away. The matron made her sit a while longer as she attended to the shiny welts on her face. Alaw winced as they smarted under the gauze. Just as she was finishing up, Hermione came running into the ward.

"Alaw!" she cried in horror. "Earnie said he saw you come up here, and then someone said you'd been attacked!"

"I'm fine," Alaw tried to assure her. "Just a few scratches. It's my own fault really, I should have shielded properly."

"Alaw, don't be stupid!" Hermione snapped. "This is serious. Who did it? We have to get them arrested, this is assault!"

Alaw kept her mouth shut and once Madam Pomfrey let her go she left the Hospital Wing at a brisk jog. Hermione ran after her and at the end of the corridor, she caught hold of her friend's arm.

"Alaw," she said sternly. "Who did this to you? It was Theodore, wasn't it?

Alaw half opened her mouth to deny it, but decided she didn't want to lie to her friend. She nodded. Hermione bristled.

"Then tell someone! Come on, we're going to McGonagall, right now."

She began to lead Alaw by the hand towards the stairs but Alaw snatched her arm back.

"No! Hermione, if I tell, Theodore will make damn sure it's the last thing I tell."

"He wouldn't actualy... kill you," said Hermione, though she didn't sound completely sure. "He's a bastard, but he's not crazy. He'd never be allowed to get away with it."

"Oh, yeah?" Alaw said dryly. "I seem to recall that murder was also illegal in America seventy-odd years ago, and in Germany at about the same time. There are always exceptions to the rule, remember? And that's us at the moment."

"Alaw, he wouldn't. Even with all the prejudice, he can't just get away with killing someone, he just can't."

"I'm not so sure," Alaw's tone was very dark indeed now. "He's rich, Hermione, rich with a powerful family. I can bet you anything the Ministry would just sweep it under the carpet because it would be too much hassle to make it stick."

Hermione said nothing, and Alaw saw that she knew in her heart that this was all true.

"But you can't let him do this to you," she said after a while in a quiet voice. "If you do, he'll think he's untouchable. You have to make a stand."

"Hagrid saw what happened." Alaw said, looking for an escape. "He went to tell Dumbledore about it, he can sort it out."

Hermione wouldn't let it lie though, she pestered Alaw all through dinner, where there was an unusual amount of pointing and staring. It seemed the story had indeed spread quickly, although the Chinese whispers had mangled the details somewhat – Neville came running up to them, ashen-faced, claiming someone had told him Alaw was dead.

However, everybody seemed to have correctly guessed who was behind the attack and Theodore's gang wasn't looking as cocky as they normally did. They all sat together at the Slytherin table but they weren't talking much. Even Theodore himself seemed subdued, he was concentrating very carefully on his food and ignoring the pestering of Pansy Parkinson.

Alaw felt no desire to return to the common room that night so she kept Hermione company in the library until it closed at eleven.

"Come on," said Hermione briskly, leading the way up the stairs. "You can stay in my room tonight, I'll make up the sofa for you. Or would you prefer the bed? You _are_ injured…"

"No, the sofa's fine. Um, do you think that's allowed, though?" Alaw asked as they turned onto the seventh floor and headed towards the western end of the castle where Alaw knew Gryffindor Tower stood.

"Well, I've seen students bring their boyfriends and girlfriends into the Tower all the time, so I really can't see why you can't stop over."

The came to a halt in front of a life-sized portrait of a large woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password," she asked and Hermione answered,

"Fortuna Major."

The Fat Lady gave Alaw a very stern look indeed.

"I'm afraid you'll have to go back to your own Common Room, young lady. No Slytherins are allowed to set foot in the Tower."

"Oh, please!" Hermione begged. "She'll be no trouble, she needs somewhere to stay the night."

"Then she can go back to her own dormitory." the Fat Lady said prissily. "I'm sorry, but rules are rules so unless I heard differently –"

At that moment Percy Weasley, Ron's older brother, turned onto the corridor.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking from the Fat Lady to the girls. "Forgotten the password? What are you doing here, Alaw?"

Alaw tried to look as pathetic as she could. Percy was a prefect so he probably had the authority to let her in, but Ron and the Twins often moaned about how uptight and fussy their brother could be.

"Please, Percy, I don't want to go back to the dungeons, not after… you know, can't I stay with Hermione tonight?"

Percy pursed his lips and glanced once again at the Fat Lady.

"I don't know," he said. "It is against the rules…"

He took in their pleading expressions and sighed.

"Oh, alright, but just for tonight and don't tell anyone, for Merlin's sake!"

The Fat Lady looked highly disapproving but swung forward nevertheless, to reveal a circular hole. Hermione climbed in first and Alaw followed her inside to the round Tower Common Room. It struck Alaw with a pang that she preferred the Slytherin dungeons, which were bigger and more tastefully decorated. Gryffindor Tower, though more comfortable, was pretty cramped and the tapestries on the walls were quite gaudy.

The gryffindors sitting by the fireplace and around the tables looked up when they entered and Alaw plucked self-consciously at her green hemmed hood. No one challenged them beyond a few raised eyebrows and Neville waved from a seat by the window. The girls didn't stay up much longer, Alaw was tired and her welts were itching incessantly. When she lay down on the one armed sofa in Hermione's tiny room, Alaw tried not to scratch with little success, and realised glumly, that it was going to be a very long night.


	8. Chapter 7 - Justice

**It's been ages since I updated, and I do apologise. Thank you so much for the advice on how to up my readers, it worked! Not much Draco page time in this chapter, but quite a bit of Knott.**

Chapter Seven

Justice

The next morning, Alaw awoke after just two hours of sleep to the news that Theodore Knott had been suspended. Neville had been waiting for them by the Portrait hole to tell them and looked positively gleeful about it.

"But, how did they know it was him?" Alaw asked in confusion.

"I think they just suspect him," shrugged Neville. "You know, because you two had that fight in Potions."

"I wouldn't call that a fight," snorted Seamus as he followed them out of the common rom with Dean, Parvati and Lavender. "More like a well-deserved smack in the gob!"

The Gryffindors all nodded fervently and Alaw smiled sheepishly, glad that her lapse in temper had at least gained her the respect of her fellow first years, if nothing else. The post owls brought Alaw yet more good news once she'd sat down for breakfast. Two letters arrived for her, one by brown owl, and the other by a furry tennis ball that landed in a basket of croissants that, when extracted, turned out to be a very dazed bat.

"Yuch!" Hermione and Lavender shrieked in unison as Alaw held to quivering creature gently in both hands and blew crumbs off its fur.

"Oh shush, he's really cute," Alaw grinned, stroking the animal's head with one forefinger. She had always been fond of bats.

The brown owl, perhaps feeling upstaged by this mammal gate-crasher, hooted and held up its leg. Keeping a firm grip on the bat in one hand, Alaw clumsily untied the letter on the owl's leg with her other. It turned out to be message from her parents which she rested against the milk jug to save for later. Once she had relieved the bat of its missive, she let it fly away, much to Hermione's relief. The note was written in an untidy scrawl of disjointed letters.

'Dear Alaw,' it read, 'Was just wondering if you'd like to pop down to the hut for tea, round about three, Hagrid.'

"That's kind of him," said Hermione once Alaw had repeated the note aloud to her and Neville.

"Yeah, he seemed nice." Alaw agreed. "Want to come with me?"

The other two readily agreed, so, after Wizarding World - during which they learnt how to tune a magical radio – the three walked down to Hagrid's hut huddled closely under Hermione's umbrella. The hut was situated on the edge of the Forbidden Forest which even in daylight looked a little menacing. A few vegetable patches lay around the cabin, one of which held young pumpkins. When they knocked, Hagrid, today wearing a flowery pinny, opened the door and invited them in out of the rain.

"Come in, come in, I've got the kettle on the boil." he said cheerfully in his rolling West Country accent. "Sit down."

"Thanks," said Alaw, and the three of them pulled out chairs from under the scrubbed wooden table.

It, like everything else in the cabin, was plus sized for Hagrid's convenience. An enormous bed stood in a far corner and a cauldron, large enough for Alaw to have sat in, hung over the empty grate.

"This is Hermione and Neville," Alaw explained as Hagrid took a copper kettle off the stove and poured out four bucket sized mugs.

"Oh yeah, Longbottom right?" Hagrid asked, glancing at Neville. "Knew you're parents I did, nice people."

Alaw was the only one to see Neville's expression change at Hagrid's words. He looked suddenly embarrassed and miserable at once and Alaw frowned.

'You alright?' she mouthed across the table at him and he nodded quickly and when he accepted his tea from Hagrid his manner went back to normal.

"Did you hear that sneaky little git Knott has been expelled?" Hagrid asked brightly, settling himself in the armchair.

"Yes, but we're not sure how the teachers knew it was him," said Hermione at once. Hagrid grinned, looking pleased with himself.

"That was Professor Dumbledore. He heard all the trouble you'd been having with the lad," Hagrid nodded at Alaw. "And then Professor Sprout said she'd seen Theodore Knott, and a bunch of others, hanging around the Tower when she was on her way to prune the Flitterby Bushes. Only trouble is, that was only enough to suspend the bugger, not expel."

"In the muggle world, he'd be charged with assault for such a thing," Hermione sniffed. "He'd get a hefty fine and six months in jail."

"Yeah well, maybe he will," said Hagrid, though he didn't look entirely convinced. "If only I'd got a proper look at him. Alaw, you sure you didn't see him?"

Hermione gave her a very pointed look but Alaw merely shrugged and quickly changed the subject. Hagrid, it transpired, was very interesting to talk to. His job involved caring for all the magical creatures in the Hogwarts grounds and much of its environs. He obviously had a gentle nature despite his fierce appearance for he seemed to show a high level of care for all living creatures. He happily let Alaw and Neville pet the bat who had delivered the post that morning when they inquired after it – Hermione kept her distance across the table.

However, Hagrid wasn't much of a cook for when he passed around a platter of biscuits, they found them uncooked in the middle. More to avoid eating them than anything, Alaw, Neville and Hermione asked Hagrid about his garden.

"Come and see," he said and he led them proudly down the front steps and over to the vegetable patch. The rain had abated now but the clouds still looked threatening.

"For the Halloween feast," Hagrid explained, pointing at the pumpkins. "Should look good."

"I've never seen pumpkins growing before," said Alaw and Hagrid looked startled.

"Never? Blimy, where do you get your Halloween decorations then?"

"Well, most people get them from super-markets. But," Alaw turned a little pink, "We didn't celebrate Halloween in our house, dad didn't really like it."

"Didn't like it?" said Neville, both he and Hagrid looked bemused. "What's not to like?"

"Don't ask me!" said Alaw, the old chip on her shoulder resurfacing. "Me and my brother used to beg to be allowed out for trick-or-treat, but dad was always like 'nasty things happen on Halloween'."

Alaw sighed.

"I didn't know your dad was that strict," said Hermione.

"He isn't like that usually, but mum didn't let us out either, I think because it was cold and wet and she didn't want us wandering around knocking on strange houses asking for sweets."

Alaw looked downhearted for a moment, but then perked up.

"But this year, I'll get to dress up and carve pumpkins and they can't say anything, mainly cause I won't tell them."

"Dress up?" asked Hagrid, once again looking confused.

"Yeah, you know, with costumes?"

"What are you on about?"

Hermione and Alaw looked devastated.

"Wizards don't dress up?" Alaw moaned. "But I was going to go Vampire this year!"

.

The visit to Hagrid's, plus the fact that the boils had vanished from her arms by the morning, meant that Alaw's mood picked up over the weekend. Theodore's gang, in the absence of their leader, kept their distance and Peeves won applause from the students by somehow getting Argus Filch stuck up a chimney on the fifth floor.

This happy mood could not last forever though, and on Monday morning, Alaw received a nasty shock.

"Filius?" asked Snape and the whole Charms class turned around to look at him standing by the door. "May I borrow Jones? The headmaster would like to see her."

"Of course," said Flitwick in surprise.

Hermione shot Alaw a concerned look but Alaw had a feeling she knew what this was about. She collected her things and followed Snape out of the room. As the door swung closed behind her she heard Professor Flitwick continue his lecture on the proper casting of an Incendio charm.

Snape's expression was unreadable and he barely looked at his student as he set off down the corridor. Alaw trotted to keep up with his brisk pace but stayed far enough away not to be caught in the face by his billowing robes.

"Professor," she ventured daringly after there had been several minutes of silence. "Why does the headmaster want to see me?"

Snape ignored her.

Alaw scowled. Never, in her entire school career, had she come across a teacher like Snape, who openly despised her and made no attempt to hide it. She considered repeating herself a few times but decided there was no point. They came to a halt of the sixth floor before a statue of a gargyle. The beat blinked its stone eyes and ruffled its wings.

"Sherbet Lemon," said Snape and the gargoyle stepped aside to reveal a spiral staircase moving upwards of its own accord.

Snape stepped onto this and Alaw quickly jumped after him, trying not to trip. At the top of the stairs there was a door which Snape opened without knocking, to reveal a circular tower room. The walls were filled from floor to ceiling with portraits of men and women in robes of varying historical periods. The one thing they all had in common was the fact that they were all fast asleep, snoring against their frames or in their armchairs.

Besides the large ebony desk in the centre, the room was crammed with furniture, mostly cabinets of books around the walls, and spindly little tables, the kind that were easy to knock over. Each one held a handful of objects, weird instruments which puffed and clicked in the background. But Alaw paid little attention to these, she focused instead on the people gathered around the desk, either standing or sitting, as the headmaster was. Dumbledore lifted his head at their entrance, his normally cheerful eyes looked grave.

"Thank-you, Severus," he said as Snape closed the door behind himself and Alaw.

Alaw was glaring at Theodore who sat in a chair before the desk. Rather than glaring back, the young man maintained a rather sombre expression. The woman beside him on the other hand looked haughtily at Alaw. She was an austere witch who, though not stunningly beautiful, clearly took care with her appearance, her cheeks were powdered and her hair set in stylish curls. Her robes were black and sparkling, like the heavy chain she wore and the dangling earrings. This must be Theodore's mother, and the grim faced men standing behind them? They could only be the fabled Avery uncles.

The last person in the room was Professor McGonagall, who hovered beside Dumbledore's arm chair looking deeply unhappy about the situation.

"Take a seat, Miss Jones," said Dumbledore and Alaw sank into the remaining chair, her heart beating rather fast.

"Miss Jones, I have called you here in order to clarify the series of events that led to your trip to Madam Pomphrey on Thursday," Dumbledore explained and one of Theodore's uncles snorted.

"Which should have been handled before you jumped the jinx and suspended my nephew."

"I quite agree," said Mrs Knott snootily and she waved a contemptuous hand at Alaw. "This girl hadn't even accused my son and yet you still treated him like a criminal!"

"There was sufficient evidence for the suspension," McGonagall argued stiffly. "Several staff and students had reported Master Knott's behaviour towards Miss Jones in the weeks prior to the attack, and Professor Sprout."

"Attack? Attack? Who says it was an attack?" asked the taller uncle sharply. He was wearing a pinstriped set of robes with the symbol of a set of scaled stitched on his chest. "May I remind you, that such inflammatory language isn't viewed favourably by the Wizengamot, especially when there is no proof to support its use?"

At these words, Alaw felt a cold chill in the pit of her stomach. A lawyer, they had brought the family lawyer. Well that was just peachy.

"Very well, the incident," McGonagall corrected herself icily. "But there had been reports of bullying. I myself had observed your nephew's negative attitude in my classes."

"And this is basis for suspension these days?" Mrs Knott jumped in, and the large nosed uncle who had spoken first said,

"In my day, there was none of this touchy-feely nonsense about a spot of friendly jinxing, people used to duel to settle disputes all the time."

Alaw made a nose at the back of her throat at these words and everyone looked up at her. A spot of friendly jinxing? She had been in fear for her life! Dumbledore tapped a piece of paper in front of him.

"I have here," he began, "a statement from the school matron, where she describes the injuries inflicted on Miss Jones."

He dropped his gaze to the parchment and read aloud.

"23 stinging hexes to the face and arms, and a series of boils along both arms, most likely inflicted by a poorly cast bat-bogey hex."

He looked back up and the Knotts and Averys.

"Do those sound like the sort of injuries obtained during a friendly bout of jinxing?" he asked and the large nosed uncle shrugged.

"Sometimes things get boisterous, but never dangerous."

"And if, as you claim, it was an 'attack' and not simple school-boy duelling, why didn't the girl come forward herself?" asked Mrs Knott. Again she shot Alaw a look that showed how little she thought of her.

"Well, why don't we ask her?" asked McGonagall waspishly. The family were clearly trying her patience. She turned to Alaw rather than have to look at them.

"Well, Miss Jones? Why don't you tell us, in your own words, what happened?"

Alaw's eyes darted towards Theodore and she swallowed.

"Speak up girl! Don't the muggles teach you to answer questions?" barked the pinstriped barrister, and Alaw flinched.

The time had come to tell the truth. She screwed up her courage and began to explain. She kept her eyes on her laced fingers but every now and then she glanced up at the faces around her. Dumbledore's expression was completely neutral which didn't instil Alaw with much confidence, although McGonagall was looking grimmer by the second, her mouth was in danger of disappearing it had become so thin. Finally, when Alaw had finished her story, Dumbledore turned to Theodore.

"Now why don't you explain yourself Master Knott?"

"Of course, sir," said Theodore, in a voice that suggested to all the world that he was polite and considerate young man. "My friends and I were talking near the Astronomy Tower, when we saw Jones slip in the mud."

It was amazing how someone could tell the exact same story and make it sound so different. The way Theodore told it, Alaw had 'tripped' by accident and grown unreasonably angry at the gang for laughing at her. Theodore claimed it was she who had been the first to draw her wand and that they had merely been acting in self-defence.

"I realise duelling is a foolish way to settle and argument," Theodore finished. "But Jones was insistent."

"I tried to leave but you blocked me!" Alaw cried indignantly.

"Quiet girl," snapped the barrister. "In the Wizarding World, we don't interrupt."

Alaw had to bite her tongue to stop herself from retorting. Dumbledore sighed and unlaced his long fingers, lying them flat on the table.

"It sounds to me," he began. "Like this was a serious incident. Ten on one in any situation cannot be justified."

"If it was ten on one," the barrister interjected. "Theodore?"

Theodore shrugged.

"Draco may have jumped in to help when one Jones' curses came close to actually harming me, but the others stayed out of it."

Alaw seethed in her chair. Lies! This was all lies, Dumbledore and McGonagall couldn't possibly be buying this pile of horse turds.

"You see, Dumbledore? Once again your fondness for muggle-borns has led you to put aside proper justice," said the barrister, smugly.

"Yes, there would never be this much fuss over the same incident if it involved two purebloods!" the large nosed uncle added. "This girl is getting preferential treatment because of her background."

"I assure you that is not the case," said Dumbledore but even to Alaw this sounded false. Of course the teachers were taking it more seriously than usual.

"And it's hardly like the girl is innocent in all this," Mrs Knott chipped in. "As I understand it, she has already attacked my son herself, causing him serious injury."

"She was severely provoked!" McGonagall flared up. "Master Knott used highly offensive language, and besides, Miss Jones has already been punished for her lapse in temper."

"That is no excuse!" Mrs Knott countered. "Its political correctness gone mad! I warn you Dumbledore, we will take this before the Wizengamot if Theodore is not allowed to return to classes."

Alaw raised her head to look at the headmaster. Surely, surely, he wouldn't…

After a long pause during which Dumbledore gazed at the Knotts but never glanced at Alaw, the headmaster said,

"What say you, Severus? They are both your pupils after all."

Snape, who had stood by the door the entire time, stepped forward as everyone looked at him.

"Headmaster, whilst I do not judge Master Knott's actions serious enough to warrant expulsion, I believe both he and Miss Jones acted most irresponsibly. I do not tolerate duelling among my students, it is unbecoming to the House of Slytherin. Therefore, I believe they should both receive detentions and hove no more said about the matter."

McGonagall didn't look like she agreed with her colleague at all but Dumbledore was nodding.

"Very well," he sighed. "I agree that this is the best course of action to take for now." He then fixed Theodore with a stern glare. "However, I must warn you that any further escapades on Master Knott's part will result in his expulsion. The staff will be keeping a close eye on him."

Theodore bowed his head in humble acknowledgement of this but his mother stood with a huff.

"I have half a mind to file a law-suit," she complained bitterly. "Just remember, Dumbledore, that this may be your school for now, but in the real world, social position matters."

She beckoned to Theodore imperiously and he stood, but not before giving Alaw a single look of spiteful triumph.

.

.

.

"Flippendo!" Alaw cried, brandishing her wand with the righteous fury she had been using for the past fifteen minutes. "Expelliarmus! Stupify! STUPIFY!"

These hexes and jinxes streamed off Neville's shield, which was still holding despite the heavy bombardment it had been enduring. Alaw poured every drop of frustration and disappointment into her spells.

"Stupify!"

That was one for Theodore, thinking he could get away with whatever he damn well pleased.

"Pungaris!"

That was for Snape, siding with the purebloods as usual.

"Rictusempra!"

And that was for Dumbledore, for letting them do it.

"I think that's enough for today," said Lupin firmly.

Alaw and Neville dropped their wand arms and the latter doubled over, leaning his hands on his thighs and panting.

"Excellent work, Neville," said Lupin. "Very good progress, your shield work is coming along nicely.

Neville looked too exhausted to thank Lupin with more than a weak smile and he staggered over to where Ron was waiting with the bags. Maintaining a steady and constant stream of magic required a lot of physical as well as mental endurance, and so left many students feeling drained.

Not Alaw though, she was so pumped up with anger she thought she could curse anything right then. Lupin waited until she'd calmed down a bit, putting her wand back in her holster, before approaching her. She was still breathing hard and clenching and unclenching her fists though.

"Alaw," Lupin began gently and quietly. "I know you, like many of us, are disappointed by Master Knott's lucky escape,"

Alaw snorted.

"Yeah, you could say that," she said bitingly.

Disappointed? She was beside herself! Lupin gave her a sympathetic yet stern look, remind her not to snap at a teacher.

"I know you're angry," he continued, "But I don't think it's right you should take it out on poor Neville."

Alaw looked over at Neville and immediate felt a little ashamed of herself for she saw that he was sweating buckets and swigging water.

"I'm sorry," she groaned. "But I'm just so furious! How could Dumbledore let him get off scot free?! There were witnesses and everything! Madam Pomphrey even said she though the injuries matched my version of events, but they still talked their way out of it."

"Master Knott's uncle is a very good lawyer," said Lupin regretfully. "He is adepts at destroying cases, and I think you weakened yours by not speaking out at once. It gave them time to throw doubt on you and muddy the waters."

Alaw scowled, she had already drawn the same conclusion. If only her nerve had not wavered, if she had been brave, and reported Theodore, Draco and the others at once, then perhaps she could have had some justice.

Instead, all she had was a sour taste in her mouth and an unwarranted detention. At least she had been able to serve it with Hagrid, nursing a unicorn foal which had lost its mother. Meanwhile, Alaw had felt immensely smug when she'd heard that Theodore had been placed at the mercy of Argus Filch, who'd had him mopping one of the old dungeon rooms until two in the morning.

"Sorry about that Neville," Alaw said, as she Neville and Ron left the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and headed for the stairs. The sky beyond the mullioned windows was shot through with pink and far away, they heard the bell of the clock tower chiming six o clock.

"No problem, its good practice," said Neville cheerfully, "I think I might actually pass the course now."

"Wish I was getting better," Alaw sighed. "Then I could pay Theodore back."

She was not progressing nearly as well as Neville, and it had taken a lot of work to drag up her average grade from a P to an A, and that was after nearly a month.

"I reckon someone should jinx the little toe-rag for you," said Ron unexpectedly. "When does he think he is? The Dark Ages?"

Alaw raised her eyebrows in mild surprise.

"I thought you didn't care what he did to me, so long as I 'picked a house'," I quoted coolly.

Ron went a little pink and mumbled something about 'not meaning it that way'. It was good not to be on fighting terms with Ron anymore, for it had been tedious in the extreme, and he said nothing about Alaw sitting with himself, Neville and the twins at the Gryffindor table. Hermione wasn't there and Lavender informed them that she'd gone to bed early because she was feeling ill.

"I kept saying that would happen," Ron said wisely, as he watched Alaw and Neville play chess with their plates put to one side. "She spends too much time in that bloody library and its freezing in there."

"She needs to work," said Alaw fairly, prodding a quivering pawn into the path of a particularly menacing Knight. Ron snorted.

"She's got no more work than the rest of us," he argued, "And you don't see us in there every night like a bunch of weirdos."

Alaw frowned but decided not to rise to the slight on her friend. She was too tired of argument at that moment. After beating Neville and narrowly losing to Ron, Alaw decided she'd had enough of chess and bade them all goodnight. When she entered the Slytherin common room, she scanned the place carefully. There was no sign of Theodore or any of his friends, apart from Draco, who sat alone in the corner, apparently doing his homework. Given that Draco never bothered her unless he had half a dozen mates there to back him up, Alaw felt safe enough to drop into one of the more comfortable armchairs by the fire and curl up contentedly.

She supposed, taking out A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration, that Theodore had gone out to the village again. He could afford to go as often as he pleased and though Alaw was far from penniless (as Theodore liked to speculate) she wasn't the type to waste her money on hitting the bars every night of the week.

She turned to the chapter of Gamp's Five Exceptions to Elemental Transfiguration and started reading the section headed 'Money'. Charity had urged them all to read this chapter after a positive flurry of questions on the matter in their last Wizarding World session. Alaw had always assumed money wasn't something Wizards could simply manufacture at will, or else poverty would be obsolete. That, or the whole economic system would collapse if people simply make their own Galleons. And the heaviest penalties were attached to manufacturing muggle money, as it was a threat to the International Statue of Secrecy. And besides, multiplied pounds, dollars and euros degraded and vanished after a while, depending on who had cast the spell.

Alaw had just finished the section on Money, and had just dipped into 'Love', when someone walked over to her chair. She looked up and saw Cameron and Flora standing there. They were holding hands, which at least confirmed the gossip Alaw had been hearing of late. They looked rather sheepish.

"What's up?" Alaw asked wearily, wondering what she had done this time.

"Um, we were wondering if you wanted to play exploding snap or something," said Flora, holding up a pack.

Alaw blinked but then smiled, the first time she'd done so in days.

"Yeah, ok," she said, placing a spare chocolate frog card in her book to mark her place.

As they played on the coffee table, they were joined by a handful of other Slytherins who brought with them a few bottles of butterbeer. The evening ended up being fairly merry and though no one said it aloud, Alaw know what they all meant with these friendly gestures. Reluctant to accept change though they were, even Slytherins couldn't help but condemn an unprovoked attack on one of their own. Alaw didn't fool herself into thinking any of them would stick up for her when, inevitably, the prejudice started again. But for that evening, all was well in the Slytherin common room.


	9. Chapter 8 - Secrets Are Currency

Chapter Eight

Secrets Are Currency

The following Saturday, Alaw woke bright and early. She dressed at top speed, barely noticing as the Giant Squid drifted lazily past her window, and left for the Great Hall in a state of great anticipation. The first week of October had been a trial for Alaw because Theodore hadn't stopped gloating about his escape from justice. The cruel jokes had started again, the worst of which must have been Pansy Parkinson's idea because it had involved stealing Alaw's clothes and towel as she showered one evening.

She been forced to sprint stark naked across the corridor to her room as everyone laughed at her. Alaw had paid Pansy back by swapping her haircare potion for green dye of the Weasley Twins. What with this and all the snide comments she been enduring, it was little wonder that Alaw had been waiting desperately for this weekend since term began. Charity had been promising to take the muggle-borns on a trip to a muggle town and the day had finally arrived.

All the muggle-borns were congregated at the Hufflepuff table when Alaw arrived and she made her way along to where Hermione sat, looking peaky.

"You alright?" Alaw asked in concern as she climbed onto the bench. Hermione was pale and clamy but she smiled grimly.

"I'm fine," she said, sounding like her nose was completely blocked. "Just a bit sniffly."

Then she sneezed explosively.

"Are you sure you're well enough to come today?" asked Alaw, carefully choosing some waffles well away from Hermione's sneezing range.

"Of course I am!" Hermione insisted stubbornly. She had a smoking goblet in front of her and when she lifted it to take a gulp, steam issued out of her ears and nose.

"See?" she coughed, setting the pepper-up potion to one side. "I'm fine!"

At eight o'clock, the dozen or so muggle-borns gathered in the Great Hall where Charity came to meet them.

"Everyone here? Good, now remember that the bus is seven sickles."

She led the cheerfully chattering muggle-borns down the drive, all of them clad in jackets and coats against the creeping chill of early autumn. When they reached the gates of the school, Charity stuck out her wand arm and waited.

BANG!

Alaw jumped out of her skin as a purple triple-decker bus materialised with a sound like a gun-shot. For a moment, it looked like it was going to hit Charity, but next second, it had come to halt right in front of her. A young man, just a little older than Alaw, hopped down from the bus. Alaw felt a grim sympathy for him as his face was covered in in red and yellow spots, much like the ones she had suffered with in her early teens.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus!" he said with a cheerful cockney lilt. "Morning Professor Burbage."

"Good morning Stan," said Charity briskly. "Twelve seats today."

The conductor stood aside so that the students could follow Charity onto the bus, depositing their sickles in his hand. Instead of two rows of seats either side of the isle, there were groups of armchairs clustered around tables. It looked more like an old ladies sitting room than the inside of a bus. Alaw didn't think it bode well that some of the passengers were clutching the armrests and looking distinctly ruffled. She found out the reason the moment they took their seats and Stan tapped the glass on the driver's window.

"Take 'er away Ern,"

BANG!

Alaw yelped as the bus shot forward violently and her chair toppled backwards.

"Is this safe?" Hermione asked shrilly as she gazed out of the window where Hogwarts had vanished, to be replaced by a duel carriage way on the seashore.

"Oh yes perfectly safe," said Charity, although her grip on the leather strap above her head tightened. "We won't be long."

"Dufftown's the next stop," said Stan, who was somehow managing to read the Daily Prophet without ripping it in two whilst Ern drove like a madman. "We're not far Brighton at the moment."

BANG!

Once again, half the passengers including Hermione this time went crashing to the floor. They were back in Scotland, on a country lane with thorny hedges on either side of the road.

"Here, Professor," said Stan suddenly, as everyone picked themselves up once more. "You hear about that muggle what got sorted into Slytherin by mistake?"

"Muggle-born," Charity corrected and Alaw stiffened. Stan waved a hand.

"Whatever, been all over the papers it has, an' they had a debate about it on the radio last night. She one of your lot then?"

He peered excitedly at each of the muggle-borns, most of whom were giving him very cold looks indeed by that point.

"That's enough, thank you, Stan," said Charity waspishly.

The Knight Bus braked very suddenly and Alaw had to dig her fingers into the arms of her chair to stop herself from flying headfirst through the windscreen.

"Dufftown!" said Stan promptly. "You'll be coming back later I suppose?"

"Sometime this evening, yes."

The students jumped gratefully down onto the street below and Alaw saw the sweetest thing in the entire world shining before her. A golden double arch, forming the letter M.

"Ah, civilization," she sighed happily.

Charity let them run wild for the rest of the day, all of them as excited as little children. The first thing many of them did was make a bee-line for the nearest internet café where they hurridly went through their emails, checked up with old friends on Facebook, and familiarised themselves with what was popular on You Tube, Twitter and Tumblr that day.

Many had brought backpacks with them so they could stock up on muggle contraband they'd never imagined they'd miss so much. Ball-point pens, cans of fizzy pop, muggle sweets that didn't run the risk of tasting like vomit and of course cheap alcohol. The muggle shop-owners had clearly been expecting them because many of them greeted Charity cheerfully, showing that these visits were a long standing arrangement.

Hermione and Alaw spent some time in a bookshop, catching up on new releases, and to cap it all they had a large lunch in McDonalds. It was getting dark by the time Charity called them all back to the main square to wait for the Knight Bus. Alaw however, had one thing left to do. Her mobile had long since run out of charge so she found what may possibly have been the last telephone box in Britain and inserted a few coins. She dialled her home number and waited anxiously.

"Hello?" came a crackly voice down the line.

"Mum?" asked Alaw, and somehow she sounded much younger than usual.

"Al!" said her mother delightedly. "Hello puddling, how's it all going? Are you having fun? How's the course?"

"It's – great," said Alaw thickly.

To her shame her eyes had begun to burn without warning and her throat felt constricted. Her mother paused.

"Are you alright? You sound sad."

"I'm not sad!" Alaw lied unconvincingly. "Everything's fine, the course is really cool, the people, well, they're ok."

"Are you sure?" asked her mother, sounding concerned.

Alaw's lip trembled and a moment later she was crying like a four year old.

"I miss you!" she sobbed. "I miss home so much!"

"Oh sweetheart," her mother sighed. She tried to comfort her daughter and Alaw eventually cried herself into silence. Once she'd lapsed into hiccups, her mother said,

"Is it really that horrible? Do you want us to come and get you?"

"No!" Alaw cried stubbornly. "I love it here! I really do, its amazing, I don't know why I'm being so silly."

"It's just the shock," her mother said soothingly. "Moving away from home is hard sweetpea, I don't think you expected it to be so different did you?"

Alaw shook her head then realised her mother couldn't see so she made a sound in her throat to indicate her agreement. A tap on the glass made her look up to see Hermione standing there, pointing towards the Knight Bus which had just arrived.

"Mum, I've got to go, but I'll write to you soon ok?" said Alaw quickly.

"Alright," said Mrs Jones, still sounding unsure. "And you come and visit us soon yes? Some of your friends are still about."

"Yes, I promise I'll come down sometime in the next month. Love you."

"Love you too puddling, and your dad loves you too."

"Bye," Alaw said weakly, but instead of putting the phone down, she fell against the glass and started shaking and crying.

Hermione opened the door and took the phone off her to place it back on the receiver, before letting Alaw sob miserably into her jacket. She hugged her and patted her on the back.

"Those bastards are going to pay for spoiling everything for you," Hermione said grimly. "I'll make sure of it."

"It's – not – fair!" Alaw wailed, her breath hitching on every word, "They – ruined – everything! Hogwarts was – supposed to be – amazing!"

Still leaning on each other, the two girls made their way over to where the bus was waiting to depart. As they settled onto the beds which had now replaced the armchairs, Alaw scrubbed her face clean with Hermione's hanky. She wished she hadn't broken down like that, now all her parents would do was worry. But all she really wanted, and she felt foolish for admitting it to herself, was for her parents to hug her and tell her she'd be alright.

.

.

.

It was later that week that the final straw came for Alaw. She'd been held up after Astronomy by Goyle 'accidently' knocking her bag to the floor and smashing an ink-well over her belongings. She'd been forced to hang back and clean up the mess, swearing under her breath as the rest of the class shuffled down the stairs. Alaw hated Astronomy anyway because going anywhere near the balcony made her lightheaded and extremely on edge. She had never been a huge fan of heights.

It was a few minutes past ten when she set off at a brisk pace down the spiralling stairs of the tower. The wind was sharp on the battlements so she had her cloak wrapped tightly around her body, so tightly in fact that she couldn't throw out an arm fast enough when a trip jinx caught her foot and sent her crashing down the stairs. It was terrifying, one of her childhood nightmares come to life. She tumbled down and down, hitting a different bone on every step. She finally managed to stop herself by bracing her foot and elbows against the walls.

With her heart racing and her entire body aching, she dragged herself up on trembling legs. It was then that she heard the gales of laughter through a half open door a few steps above her. She looked over her shoulder slowly, her hands balling into fists and her eyes flashing with fury. Without thinking, Alaw turned and marched back up the stairs she'd just fallen down and kicked open the door. It led to a dark and dusty store room, where Theodore Knott was bent double with laughter.

"You bastard!" Alaw shouted. "You could have killed me!"

"Oh what a tragedy that would have been," Theodore gasped, wiping a tear from his eye. "Seriously Jones, I doubt anyone would have even noticed!"

Alaw had had enough. Completely forgetting that she had a wand, she stroke towards her tormenter grabbed him by the hair, forced his head down, and brought her knee up to connect sharply with his nose. Theodore shrieked as his nose broke for a second time and blood gushed out of it.

"You cunt Jones! My uncle's going to sue you blind for this."

Theodore plunged his hand into his robes for his own wand but Alaw rugby tackled him to the floor where they rolled around, cursing and spitting. She managed the pin his wand arm down with her bloodied knee and tear the wand from his fingers. It surprised her how easily she was overpowering him, she was by no means strong. But perhaps this muggle way of fighting was so alien that Knott simply didn't know how to react. She threw his wand into the shadowy corner of the room and rolled onto her feet. Theodore tried to stand but she kicked him between the legs and he went down once more, wheezing.

"If you don't leave me alone you wanker, I'm going to let everyone know you had your arse handed to you by a girl and a mudblood, you hear me?" Alaw snarled. "And I'll let Gideon know you've been shagging his fiancé on the sneak."

Battered and bruised as he was, Theodore still managed to look suitably cowed by this threat. Gideon Selwyn was a hefty fourth year who could certainly deal out a much worse beating than Alaw ever could. Theodore mouthed insults at Alaw, though he seemed incapable of making himself heard at that moment. With a satisfied nod, Alaw turned her back on him, her cloak swishing, and stalked out of the room.

.

.

.

Alaw cursed herself most of the following week. How could she have been so stupid?! Just when she'd thought things had settled again, she had to go and do something idiotic like that. Theodore was sure to tell a teacher, or worse, that wanker uncle of his, and have her chucked out! She tried to keep a low profile all through her lessons and dreaded the tap on the shoulder from Snape, or the stern call of McGonagall.

But no such summons came. By Wednesday, some of the panic had worn off and Alaw began to wonder what was going on. Theodore had been subdued of lately, he'd even stopped gloating about the outcome of his suspension. Whenever she had seen him he had looked sullen yet weary. Once, when Alaw had been walking at a fair distance behind him on the way to Herbology, she saw him flinch away from Gideon Selwyn who went by in the opposite direction.

Perhaps he was taking her threat about tipping the fourth year off seriously. Alaw had considered telling Gideon anyway just out of spite but she now realised she could turn this to her advantage. A simple piece of gossip she'd picked up quite by accident was actually saving her a fair bit of grief. It set her to wondering what other secrets were floating around which she could use. There were bound to be some, after all, she was in a castle full of young people set free from their parents for the first time in their lives.

That evening she mulled this over as she wrapped up warm in her room before heading out to the pub. As it happened, Cameron and Flora were climbing through the hole in the wall as Alaw approached it and she lengthened her stride to catch up.

"Evening," she said amiably, brushing the dust kicked up by the closing wall from her cloak.

"Good evening Alaw," said Flora, a little too brightly.

She often spoke to Alaw like this, probably because she felt bad for shunning her at the start of term. Or because she didn't actually like her, Alaw wasn't sure. Cameron was less complex, being a boy.

"We're heading to the Three Broomsticks, you?" he asked.

"Same, I'm meeting some friends there for a quiet drink to celebrate handing in that damn Potions essay."

As the other two nodded and expressed their own relief, Alaw gazed at Cameron thoughtfully. It was he who had passed along the titbit about Theodore and Gideon's girlfriend in the first place. Alaw got the impression that Cameron was a bit nosy and that gave her an idea.

"So, heard anything interesting lately?" Alaw asked casually, though watching the other two closely.

"Well, you didn't hear it from me, but Pansy has been a naughty girl of late," said Cameron at once.

"Who's she been in bed with now?" asked Flora, rolling her eyes but her boyfriend shook his head.

"No one, well, probably someone, but that's not what I'm on about."

"What then?" asked Alaw curiously. Cameron tapped the side of his nose.

"Let's just say, you can expect her mark for the Potions essay to be quite good. Very good in fact."

Alaw and Flora exchanged confused glances and Cameron looked pleased at having intrigued them.

"What are you talking about? Are you saying she cheated?" pressed Alaw eagerly.

"I would never accuse a fellow Slytherin of such underhandedness," said Cameron in mock horror. "But, if someone was accusing, then that person would tell you they'd seen Pansy copy Snape's marking scheme for the essay last lesson when Longbottom distracted us all with that wonderful display of vomiting."

"Don't be mean," said Alaw absently. "And that little cow! So Snape has no idea?"

"I shouldn't think so, and he's not going to believe anyone without proof is he?"

"Hmm," Alaw mused.

This was extremely interesting information, certainly useful if she could find a way to prove it. She followed Cameron and Flora out of the castle, only half paying attention to where she put her feet as she thought about a way to catch Pansy. She was only brought out of her reverie when the door of the Three Broomsticks nearly smacked her in the nose.

It wasn't very crowded inside, just a few warlocks at the bar and the group of Hogwarts students sitting at the tables. Hermione was sitting with Neville, who had brought along his friends Ernie McMillan and Hannah Abbot from Hufflepuff. Ron was arguing loudly about Quiddich at the next table with the other Gryffindor lads and Neville was watching them, a little wistfully.

"Hey, blimy its cold out there," said Alaw as she paused at the bar. "I'm getting a Butterbeer, anyone need a refill?"

Ernie and Hermione asked for the same and once Madam Rosmerta had handed Alaw three steaming tankards, she sat down at the table, gingerly handing around the drinks.

"Well, here's to freedom," said Neville and they all clanked tankards and drank deeply.

The sweet, buttery foam warmed Alaw from the inside out and she removed her cloak. They passed a pleasant enough evening, talking over the essay, their lessons and what was current in the Daily Prophet. Alaw wasn't too fond of the paper after its vicious smear campaign on her so she argued amicably with Hermione about what she'd read in the muggle paper that had been delivered that morning.

When the Weasley twins and Lee arrived at around nine, Ron and his friends pushed their table against Alaw's so they could all converse without craning their necks. Alaw was on something like her fifth butterbeer and though they weren't strong, she was starting to feel a little drowsy.

"It's really not that difficult Neville," Hermione was explaining, waving her wand and turning her empty gillywater cup from glass to porcelain and back again. Neville watched with a glum expression and his wand in his hand.

"I just don't know how you do that!" he said, shaking his head. "I can barely change the colours, let alone the material."

"Don't worry Neville," said Ron, rolling his eyes at Hermione. "Any normal person can't do more than colours at this stage."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Hermione icily.

"Nothing," sneered Ron. Hermione glared at him but after a moment, got up to get in another round.

"Well she isn't normal is she?" said Ron to Seamus, not exactly keeping his voice down. "You should have heard her in Charms. 'It's Levi – _o_ – sar, not Levio _sar_ '."

"Shut up," Alaw hissed. Ron ignored her.

"I mean, it's no wonder she hasn't got any friends," he said cruely.

With a great sob, Hermione ran from the bar and out into the night, the door banging behind her. Alaw leapt to her feet.

"What is your problem?!" she shouted at Ron whose ears turned red in embarrassment.

"I don't have a problem," he muttered, avoiding Alaw's furious gaze and the eyes of the rest of the pub.

"Yes you do," Alaw spat. "You're just a childish little bully! Hermione is ten times a better student than you, and you're just jealous."

She snatched up her cloak and Hermione's and ran out of the Three Broomsticks after her friend. It was dark outside, and cold, Alaw's breath rose in a mist from her mouth as she looked around carefully. By the light spilling from the pub's windows she saw Hermione leaning against the wall of Honeydukes across the street, sniffing and shivering.

"Oh, Alaw," she hiccupped, quickly trying to hide her tears.

"Here," Alaw said, helping her put on the cloak and put an arm around her shoulders. "Don't listen to that twat, he's talking bollocks. You've got loads of friends."

"I – I know," Hermione stuttered. "It's just, do you think he's right? Do you think I'm stuck up?"

"Hermione," said Alaw firmly. "You are brilliant! And he's an arsehole. Now come on, it's freezing out here."

They walked back to the castle in silence and when they parted ways in the Entrance Hall, Hermione sniffed loudly. Alaw sighed as she descended the steps to the dungeons. She had enough problems at that moment without adding Ron Weasley to them again. She had thought he was coming round, but his behaviour towards Hermione was simply unacceptable.

It was quiet in the Common Room but as Alaw neared her room, Pansy opened the door of hers wearing a bath-robe, with a towel hung over her arm.

"Evening, scum," she spat maliciously at Alaw who kept her face neutral as Pansy turned away.

She didn't look back on her way to the bathroom, so she didn't see Alaw stick out her foot to stop the door of her room closing. After glancing around to make sure no one was watching, Alaw slipped inside the girl's room, hoping she'd left the pilfered marking scheme lying around.

.

.

.

"Why are you so cheerful all of a sudden?" asked Hermione as they sat in Warlock's Nook, roughly two weeks after the meeting in the Astronomy Tower. "You've looked pleased with yourself for days."

Alaw grinned secretively and lifted her teacup to her lips. A profound change had come over the Slytherin common room in the past fortnight, some of its inhabitants had become quieter, less confident, and the amount of suspicious muttering had increased tenfold. Alaw could take almost sole credit for this and felt more than a little smug as a consequence. She'd discovered that to be a Slytherin meant to be cunning.

Secrets were the currency of the dungeons, and Alaw had a knack for learning them very quickly. The trick was to know when to eavesdrop, and when to probe. Cameron was a veritable mine of information, as he made it his business to know everyone else's. Thanks to him, Alaw now knew who was shagging who, who had fallen out with who, and who was brewing dodgy potions in the dead of night. Secrets had a way of making people squirm when you hinted at them in conversation.

Theodore now went out of his way to avoid Alaw, as did most of the high ranking members of his gang. Now all Alaw had to contend with were the small fry whose secrets were either too trivial for Alaw to use effectively, or had them buried so deep she wasn't aware of them yet.

"Things have just been better lately," Alaw shrugged, blowing on her tea and taking a sip.

It was raining outside but the café was warm and Hermione, Neville and Alaw had their homework spread out on the table before them. They were the only customers in the shop apart from Professor Sinistra who was reading Witch Weekly in an armchair in the far corner. Neville was scratching out the last paragraph of that week's Potions homework and dotted the last sentence with a triumphant flourish.

"There," he said proudly. "Let him try and fail that! Thanks for getting me this, I'd be a gonner without it. I could find it anywhere in the library."

He handed over the text book he'd been using, Asiatic Anti-Venoms, which Alaw tucked into her bag.

"Zabini thought it would be hilarious to take every copy out just to piss everyone off," Alaw explained. "So I nicked them off him."

"Won't you get into trouble?" asked Hermione anxiously, although the scarcity in the library had been driving her insane as well.

"He certainly will," Alaw grinned sneakily. "Today's the expiry date. I decided to let him pay the late return fine before I put them back in his bag."

Neville laughed but Hermione looked worried.

"Trust me Hermione it'll be fine, I've got his number. If he tried accusing me he'd find himself on the wrong end of a certain dealer's wand faster than you can say 'Venomous Tentacula'."

Hermione looked like she wanted to ask exactly how Alaw knew this, but then seemed to decide she'd rather not know. After the trio had had enough homework, they paid and left, pulling their hoods up as they stepped out into the downpour. Despite what Hagrid had said, Alaw was determined to celebrate Halloween properly for once, and therefore was on the hunt for a costume. The problem was, almost every muggle costume was either not what one would call a costume in the wizarding world, or was in extremely bad taste. But the girls were creative, and returned to the castle feeling successful in their purchases.

They'd persuaded Charity to let them use an old classroom as a venue for their costume party and had let their fellow muggle-borns in on the deal. They spent the day decorating the room in black and orange, experimenting with charms to make the place seem spookier. They had to leave when Peeves turned up and decided to 'help' by throwing rolls of toilet paper all over the room and smearing the red paint they'd bought on all the walls. They didn't tell him that this was exactly what they'd been going for and that he was actually helping them.

The trio weren't the only one's decorating. By the time it was growing dark, the castle looked like a Tim Burton nightmare land. The staircases were so thick with fake cobwebs that many people had them stuck to their hands, and Hagrid's pumpkins, now fully grown, hovered around the Great Hall, their eerie grins glowing. The Feast was particularly entertaining as Dumbledore had booked a troop of dancing skeletons who scampered up and down the tables, swapping skulls and playing rattling tunes on each other's rib cages.

"What's this?" asked Alaw suspiciously as she peered into a taurine of greenish goop.

"No idea," said Hermione, keeping half an eye on a cloud of live bats fluttering above their heads.

Alaw frowned at the liquid and then shrugged before dipping a spoon into it. It tasted like cold custard and it wasn't until people started sniggering that she realised her skin was turning green.

"Oh crap!" she cried, dropping her spoon quickly and staring down at her hands.

"That's a great look for you," said Fred, chuckling.

"Cheers, but it's going to mess up my costume," Alaw complained. "How long does it last?"

"Oh just a few minutes," Neville assured her. "But I don't understand what the deal is with these costumes. What's the point?"

"The point," said Hermione, pushing the offending custard to one side. "Is to be silly, so just play along ok?"

"But why do I have to drink martinis all night? I mean I like them, but I just don't get it," he said, but Hermione and Alaw only grinned at each other.

The feast ended at eight o clock and a buzz of excitement had settled over the students. Most of them were heading out to the village, Wizhard of course had a themed night planned but the Shrieking Shack was also a popular venue, though no one dared go too near it. Alaw peeled off from her friends in the Entrance Hall so she could dash downstairs and change. The greenish hue had now faded away from her skin so the effect of the face paint wasn't ruined. Predictably, a lot of people sniggered and pointed when she passed through the Common Room on her way back upstairs but she just smiled back, holding her head high.

Hermione was already in the classroom when Alaw arrived and when they saw each other they assumed dramatic hero stances.

"Ah, Supergirl, we meet again," said Alaw, tossing her head back for effect.

"So we do, Cat Woman," replied Hermione.

They grinned at each other.

"This was a good idea," Hermione said cheerfully, crossing to the cobweb covered table and ladling out punch for the two of them. "I hope everyone's remembered to dress up."

"Me too, hey, I invited Cameron and Flora so they might to dropping by later, is that ok?" asked Alaw.

Hermione nodded and then laughed as Neville came into the room. Alaw turned and gaped for a moment as she realised something she hadn't until that point. Neville was quite handsome, in a round faced sort of way. He tugged at the dicky-bow he'd unsuccessfully tied.

"I look stupid don't I?" he asked grimly.

"No way, you look amazing," said Hermione firmly, crossing to help him fix the bow. Alaw assumed her hero stance once more.

"Ah, Mr Longbottom, we have been expecting you," she purred.

Neville stared at her blankly.

"Girls are insane," he said, shaking his head.

Insane or not, the girls' party kicked off to an excellent start. The room filled up quickly as the muggle-borns arrived, bringing their friends who hadn't been lucky enough to snag Wizhard tickets. All the muggle-borns had dressed up, though perhaps a few hadn't tried to be as politically correct as Hermione and Alaw for there were a few ghosts and vampires walking around. They had also encouraged their wizarding friends to come as something weird, but though they had tried, most hadn't quite understood the meaning. Alaw didn't realise that what they were wearing were costumes at all until Ernie McMillan came up to her, drink in hand and clad in a football top, and said,

"Look! I'm a muggle, see?"

They were relying on the WWN for music since their iPods weren't working but it seemed to be working out fine. Alaw was dancing to _Oliver and the Rememberalls_ with a very tipsy Neville when she saw a green-faced Dean walk in. Being a co-hostess, she went to greet him and only realised that he had brought Seamus and Ron when she was too close to melt away.

"Hey," she said awkwardly.

Ron, who wasn't in costume, shuffled his feet and avoided her gaze.

"The place looks great, anywhere we can dump our stuff?" asked Dean, struggling a little to hold his cloak because he had stuffed the arms of his green shirt with so much newspaper, they bulged.

"Yeah people are just leaving them over there," Alaw waved vaguely towards the far corner where there was a pile of bags and cloaks. "Film or Comic?"

"Film, can't wait for the new one to come out!" Dean grinned, flexing his arms and baring his teeth.

"He's been doing that all night," Seamus explained, as if he thought Alaw was confused. "And he keeps smashing things!"

Alaw snorted as the boys passed and turned back to refill her drink. She was halfway there however, when the announcer of the radio said,

"And now on Spooky Hour, it's that time again, for all you muggle-borns out there it's the king of pop himself!"

The room filled with the sound of a creaking coffin lid as it was slowly opened, and the howling of a werewolf.

"Yes!" Alaw whooped as the music started. "I love this song!"

"Classic," called Dean from somewhere in the crowd.

The wizard born guests were all looking very confused at their friends' excitement and even more so when Alaw waved her arms to clear a space on the floor. Then they laughed when she took the lead in the dancing. A few of her fellows joined in and eventually most people were mimicking the evil voice and maniacal laughter which ended the song. But as it faded away and a few people applauded, the sound of shouting came from the half open door.

"Oh just leave me alone you weirdo!"

"No! Not until you explain exactly how I've offended you so,"

"By being a bossy know-it-all that's how!"

Alaw frowned and pushed through the crowd who had now started gyrating to a number by Ministry of Magic. Ron and Hermione were having a screaming match out in the corridor, their faces red and their shouts bouncing off the walls.

"Guys, please don't fight," Alaw said weakly but neither of them seemed to hear her.

"You know what, I have no idea how you ended up in Gryffindor," Ron yelled. "You much more of stuck up Ravenclaw if you ask me."

"Ha! That's rich, I thought Gryffindor men were supposed to be chivalrous, or did you miss that part when you were busy doodling penises on your text books?" Hermione spat back.

"What's going on?" asked Neville as he poked his head around the door.

"A bitch fight, that's what's going on," said Alaw, who had her arm crossed and an unimpressed expression on her face.

"Stay out of this!" Ron and Hermione shouted at the same time.

Hermione whipped out her wand from its holster.

"If you're so convinced I'm not a proper Gryffindor, then let's put it to the test! A duel!"

Ron, wildly underestimating the situation, pulled out his own wand and Alaw clapped a hand to her forehead in exasperation.

"Look, you've both had go, now let's drop it and act like adults ok?" she said angrily.

Then a balloon filled with the green custard from the feast exploded on the side of her head. Whilst Alaw screwed up her eyes and swore loudly, the other three turned to see Peeves floating near the ceiling a few feet away.

"Well, well, well," he cackled, juggling a dozen more custard bombs. "Ickle first years out so late, very naughty of you."

"We're allowed to be here, piss off!" Ron snarled. Peeves pouted and lobbed a balloon at Ron who was too slow to avoid it, and got a face-full of goop.

"Woo, Wesel's getting cranky! Well if you're going to be rude,"

He started throwing the balloons at the four of them with annoying accuracy. They shouted protests and curses, fleeing before his deranged bombardment. Peeves gave chase, laughing insanely, producing more missiles when he ran out of balloons, like books, candlesticks, and maces which he snatched from suits of armour as he passed.

"Peeves! Stop it, cut it out you mentalist!" Alaw shrieked as an axe went hurtling past her head.

Somewhere in the back of her brain, Alaw registered that Peeves must be deliberately missing them because his aim had been impeccable when he'd been using the balloons. However, it was a little difficult to be confident when he wrenched a few burning torches from the walls. Hermione tried blasting a few spells over her shoulder but it was a little difficult to aim when fleeing for one's hide. Ron wasn't even trying to reason with or halt the poltergeist, he was just pelting down the corridor and was the first to dive through a door at the far end.

Alaw, Neville and Hermione followed in quick succession and together the slammed it shut behind them before a collection of knifes thudded into the wood.

"Arsehole," Ron panted, leaning against the door and breathing hard.

"Tell me about it," said Neville through gritted teeth. "Complete psychopath, what's wrong Ron?"

Ron had suddenly stood up straight once again and was pressed against the door with a look of pure horror on his face, mouthing wordlessly. The girls and Neville turned and similarly froze. They were in a fairly small classroom with the desks stacked against the wall and an open wardrobe in the far corner. All the surfaces were covered in spun webs, like the fake ones which lined the marble Staircase. Except that these were real. Their maker was clinging to the ceiling, its many eyes glittering menacingly in the darkness with eight hairy legs dangling.

"Open the door," Ron whispered, his eyes round as plates, still standing like he'd been petrified. "Open. The fucking. Door."

Hermione groped behind her for the handle and tugged, but it didn't budge.

"What's are you waiting for?!" Ron hissed hysterically.

"It won't open!" Hermione whimpered.

The giant spider was untangling itself from the web, its many horrible eyes fixed on the intruders. Ron lost it, it scrabbled at the door like a caged animal whilst the girls and Neville drew their wands.

"Peeves!" Alaw shouted, banging on the door with her free fist but keeping her gaze on the monster before them. "Open this door! Peeves! Come on, there's a bloody monster in here!"

"Not until you say please!" cackled Peeves from the other side where he was clearly holding onto the handle, preventing it from opening.

"PLEASE!" Ron wailed, throwing his weight against the wood.

Peeves just laughed manically again and the spider, aggravated by the noise, clicked its pincers menacingly and advanced on the group of terrified first years. None of them knew a spell which could repel such a creature but Hermione shot a spray of harmless red and green sparks at it, hoping to frighten it off. It sort of worked, the spider did back away, but it seemed more angry than scared. Alaw levitated the desks stacked up in the corner between them and the spider to create a barrier and Neville joined Ron in trying to kick the door down.

"Help!" Neville shouted. "Someone, help us!"

The spider was trying to get past Alaw and Hermione's bombardment of spells and then – it vanished.

"Where did it go?" Hermione asked cautiously, pointing her wand into the shadows of the ceiling suspiciously.

"Dunno, maybe it wasn't real?" Alaw suggested. "Yeah, typical Peeves to freak us out like that."

She turned to the door again and hammered sternly.

"Ok Peeves, very funny but we figured it out, you can let us out now."

Peeves said nothing, though they could hear him trying not to laugh with little success.

"Come on you little toe-rag, you win, well done, now open the door!" Ron called angrily.

He was still very white in the face which contrasted badly with the dark red of his hair. Still Peeves remained silent and Alaw glanced around worriedly, she was starting to get a creeping sensation on the back of her neck, like they weren't alone. Hermione drew her wand.

"If you don't open up, I'm going to blast it," she said. Alaw knew she was bluffing, if she was capable of such a thing then she would have done it already.

"Oh I think not Miss Granger," said a cold and familiar voice.

The four whipped around and saw Severus Snape stepped out of the shadows where a moment before he most certainly had not been.

"P-Professor?" Hermione asked, bewildered.

Snape ignored her, he was staring at Neville who quivered at Alaw's shoulder.

"Getting into trouble Longbottom?" he asked silkily. "Well we can't have that,"

He drew his wand and Neville gasped, gripping Alaw arm tightly. Alaw stepped in front of her friend and glared at Snape.

"It wasn't his fault, leave him alone," she said, rather foolishly. Snape would just love an excuse to expel her and it looked like she was heading in that direction.

"Quiet girl," Snape's eyes flashed and his lip curled maliciously. "You are pathetic Longbottom, letting a girl shield you, why don't you stand up straight and face me like a man?"

Neville's grip on Alaw's arm tightened and he seemed to try and hold himself more straight-backed. Snape laughed cruelly.

"Pathetic," he hissed again. "You'll never amount to anything Longbottom, you're a disgrace to our family name. But then, so was your father."

Neville made a sound like a wounded animal and sagged against Alaw once more.

"Oi! You can't talk to him like that!" she flared up.

Snape ignored her, he was taking deliberate steps towards them and the friends pressed back against the door like frightened children.

"I knew you would be just like him, Longbottom, weak, simple-minded and cowardly."

"S-shut up about my dad," said Neville in little more than a whisper.

"He was so weak-willed he couldn't even protect his wife when the Death Eaters came knocking," Snape sneered.

Neville wailed and sank to the floor, his tortured face in his hands.

"No," he croaked. "No, no! Shut up!"

"I'll bet he screamed like a stuck pig," Snape laughed.

Alaw tried to confront him but he pointed his wand at her and the other two and they went flying across the room, leaving Neville alone and huddled in a shuddering heap at Snape's feet.

"He was brave," Neville whimpered. "He was!"

"I'll bet his mind was easy to crack," said Snape mercilessly. "You're mother too, another fool, idiotic and unfit to breed."

"No!" Neville wailed, tears spilling down his cheeks.

"Shut up! Get away from him you monster! Leave him alone!" Alaw shouted furiously, pushing uselessly against the force which kept them pinned against the far wall.

"Neville!" Hermione cried suddenly. "Don't listen to him! He's not real, listen to me, that isn't the real Snape! Curse him Neville!"

But Neville couldn't pull himself together to raise his wand, he just sobbed and shook violently. Alaw twisted and took advantage of the fake Snape's laughter to point her own wand at him without him noticing.

"Stupify!" she cried and when the red spark hit their Potion's Master he vanished, like the spider.

The force holding Alaw, Hermione and Ron disappeared too and they fell hard onto the floor.

"What the hell is going on?" Ron demanded, picking himself up gingerly.

"I think it's a boggart," Hermione panted. "It's showing us our worst fears."

Alaw froze and looked down at the floor, a sense of dread filling her.

"Worst fears?" she asked in a quavering voice.

"Yes, so whatever you do, don't think about what frightens you, or it makes it easier for it," said Hermione, crossing to help a distraught Neville to his feet and resume the attempt to open the door.

But how could one stop thinking about their worst fear when told not? It was all Alaw could think about now! _No_ , she thought desperately, _ignore it, happy thoughts, happy thoughts_. But it was no good, and as she watched the floor boards began to vade away to reveal an endless drop to the ground, many floors below.

"No!" Alaw screamed, flinging herself against the wall again and hugging the stone.

The other three scrambled to stand against a solid surface as the floor disappeared, leaving a gaping hole.

"Alaw, it's not real!" Hermione said desperately. "Listen, it's not real, just ignore it!"

But how could she ignore it?! Terror was clouding her mind like a thick fog so all Alaw could do was cry and clutch the stonework like it was the only solid thing in the world. To make matters worse, wind was whipping up from the hole and seemed to be blowing her off balance.

"Make it stop!" Alaw screamed hysterically. "Hermione make it go away!"

Then she yelped as she was yanked away from the wall and spun around forcefully.

"Alaw snap out of it!" Hermione shouted, and slapped her sharply in the face.

The shock snapped Alaw temporarily out of her terror and she blinked rapidly. They were standing directly over the abyss, on solid floorboards which were starting to come back into sight.

"I," Alaw swallowed and tried again, "I, uh, sorry."

"That's alright, Boggarts seek to impair our judgement, make us think what we're seeing is real even when we know it's not."

"Well let's get out of here before something else turns up then!" said Ron impatiently, making another break for the door.

He was halfway there however when a black cloud of smoke gathered into the shape of a man. He looked perfectly ordinary to Alaw, he wore the scrubs of a dentist and had a metal implement in one hand, and a piece of paper in his other.

"Not so fast young lady!" he said, and his voice was deep and booming, echoing all around the classroom.

Coupled with his unassuming appearance it was almost comical to Alaw, but Hermione cowered away like a beaten dog from its master.

"Dad?" she whispered.

"You've been a bad girl Hermione," he said sternly, waving the paper at her. "What is this? Only a C in maths? Is this supposed to be a joke?"

"No, no dad, I,"

"Don't interrupt me young lady, you are in big trouble! I thought we raised you to work hard!"

"I did," Hermione sobbed. "I did! I'm sorry dad, I'm so sorry!"

"Sorry doesn't change this mark Hermione Jean Granger, you wait until your mother finds out!" Hermione's fake father bellowed.

He was growing bigger, filling the room from floor to ceiling until he towered over the teenagers. Alaw felt like she was being admonished too and she backed off like the others. Hermione was crying hysterically.

"I'm sorry daddy! Please don't tell mummy, please don't tell her! I d-didn't mean to!" she sobbed.

The enormous dentist brandished his implement at his daughter.

"You are in for a world of trouble when she gets home from work. You are lazy and sloppy, girl, and you are going explain yourself for this mark!"

"I tried my best!" Hermione wailed. "I promise daddy I tried my best!"

"H-hey!" Ron said bravely, "Leave her alone you big bully! She did try!"

"Trying isn't good enough!" roared the dentist.

He was looking less and less like a normal person and more like a monster, his teeth were growing pointed and the implement was getting bigger and nastier. Ron swallowed and stepped in front of Hermione.

"I said leave her alo – oof!"

"Ron!" Hermione squealed as Ron went flying across the room once again. He crashed into the discarded desks and groaned in a dazed way.

Hermione's scowled and stood up straighter.

"Leave him alone!" she shouted at the Boggart.

"How dare you talk to your father like that!" the dentist roared, dust falling from the ceiling. Hermione raised her wand and said coldly,

"You are not my father, you're just a stupid boggart! Riddikulus!"


	10. Chapter 9 - He Who Must Not Be Named

Chapter Nine

He Who Must Not Be Named

From that day on, Ron Weasley became their friend. He apologised profusely to the girls for being, in his words, 'a worthless piece of crap'. Alaw forgave him because she was tired of arguing and because Ron turned out to be a right laugh once he'd stopped being an arse. Hermione too was a lot more accepting of Ron after he had tried to protect her from the Boggart Dentist, and so the trio became a quartet.

It was just as well because the news of their misadventure with the Boggart had been spread all over the school by Peeves, and a fair bit of teasing came their way.

"Look out Weasley, there's a big scary spider behind you!"

"A bad mark? Seriously Granger?"

"Careful you don't fall off the Astronomy Tower tonight Jones!"

Alaw, Ron and Hermione bore these remarks reasonably well. They were nothing compared to the jeers Alaw had endured thus far but what worried her was how much they seemed to effect Neville. When Theodore first encountered Neville after hearing the news his face lit up maliciously.

"Hey Longbottom!" he shouted in the middle of a crowded corridor on the fourth floor. "Heard all about the fun you had with the Boggart, pathetic!"

Neville's face drained of colour and Alaw, who happened to be walking beside him, scowled.

"Piss off Theodore," she growled and a few people paused to watch the fun.

"Cranky, Jones? This floor a bit high up for you?" Theodore asked sweetly before turning his attention back to Neville. "Anyway, Peeves has been telling everyone, did it seriously turn into Snape?"

"Come on Neville," Alaw said firmly and she tried to lead him away but it was nearly lunchtime and the jostling crowd was too thick to navigate quickly.

"I'm surprised Longbottom, if I'd had to guess, I'd have said you'd see a scary Healer with a straight jacket!" Theodore jabbed. Neville froze, his face looked stricken.

"Or maybe," Theodore went on, delighted to have caused such an effect. "Maybe a crowd of crazies coming towards you."

Theodore, Crab and Goyle raised their hands in front of them like zombies and let their tongues lol about, making grotesque noises. Neville lunged. Onlookers gasped and scrambled out of the way as Neville charged at the Slytherins who all looked shocked by his bold move. Alaw grabbed the back of Neville's robes and fought to hold him back.

"Don't-you- _ever_!" Neville snarled, so furious he couldn't get out a proper sentence. "Ever! Not-funny-not- _bastard_!"

People were starting to giggle and Alaw hauled Neville away with all her might.

"Neville, calm down! Stop it!" she panted.

"Yeah go on, run away! You know you could never win in a duel Longbottom, you pathetic excuse for a Pureblood," Theodore called after them. Alaw threw him a very annoyed glare.

"What, like how you can't win in a fight against a muggle-born without half a dozen mates to back you up? How are your balls since I kicked them incidentally? Still singing Soprano?"

The corridor rang with laughter and Theodore went a violent shade of magenta. Before he could retort, Alaw succeeded in pushing Neville around the corner and within sight of the Grand Staircase. Once out of shouting range, Neville lost his fire and seemed to wilt. Before Alaw could do more than say his name weakly, Neville took off at top speed towards the stairs. Alaw ran after him but lost the trail when the stairs changed and took her from the third floor to the fifth. It therefore took her twice as long to reach the Entrance Hall and by then, Neville was gone.

Feeling worried, Alaw turned into the Great Hall where lunch had just started. Apart from the feasts, meals at Hogwarts could be dull. It must have been difficult for whoever did the cooking to cater to hundreds of hungry students, so the same thing was served many time over, things easy to cook in bulk. Today's midday meal consisted of freshly baked bread rolls, lunch meats, and leak and potato soup. Ron and Hermione were sitting at the head of the Gryffindor table, going over their History of Magic homework with their text books propped up against the juice jug.

Since becoming friendlier with the girls, Ron was starting to reap the benefits of hanging around with Hermione. His grades had already picked up – much to his astonishment.

"Where's Neville?" he asked, possible just to stop Hermione's lecture about early medieval duelling.

"He ran off," said Alaw. "We were just on our way here when Theodore decided to have a go."

She described the encounter and the other two looked just as confused as she felt.

"A Healer in a straightjacket?" Ron asked, frowning. "Weird, maybe he's scared of St Mungo's."

"The hospital? Why would he be scared of there?" Alaw wondered. Hermione hummed to herself.

"The boggart," she said slowly. "It said something about his mum and dad, remember? And Neville said he was raised by his grandmother."

Alaw remembered, and immediately felt guilty for never having thought to ask Neville about this.

"Maybe they died at St Mungo's," she suggested. "Poor Neville, damn Theodore! Should have cursed him when I had the chance."

Although it had been immensely satisfying to humiliate Theodore in front of a crowd, Alaw was annoyed that she'd had to play the kick in the balls card. Now all she had over his head was the information about Selwyn's fiancé. She'd have to dig up something more pretty sharpish if she wanted to keep Theodore in check.

"You don't want to go picking more fights!" Hermione said in exasperation.

After lunch they all had a free period. Hermione was intent on dragging Ron to the library to finish his essay but Alaw declined their offer to join them. She had a feeling she'd find Neville in the Greenhouses so she set off across the lawn, her hood pulled up because of the dismal rain. Professor Sprout was tending to some shrubbery under the canopy of greenhouse two and she looked up at the sound of Alaw's splashing footsteps.

"What can I do for you Jones?" she asked, taking off her witch's hat and wiping her brow with it.

"I was wondering if Neville was here Professor," said Alaw.

"Yes he stopped by an hour ago, he's in there," said Sprout, gesturing towards the greenhouse. "I thought he seemed a bit down, is everything alright?"

"I, I don't know," Alaw said, shrugging. "Thankyou."

The greenhouse was warm and steamy, a welcome change to Alaw's chilled extremities. She rubbed her nose to warm it as she wondered along the trestle tables. Many strange plants grew in here and it took a moment for Alaw to spot her friends through the foliage. Neville was carefully watering a broad-leafed plant with twitching red flowers.

"Neville?" Alaw asked softly and he flinched a little.

"Oh, hi," he said, setting the watering-can aside.

"Hey, are you ok?"

"Yes of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, Theodore…" Alaw begun but Neville turned away and started fussing over an arrangement of dragon-hide gloves behind him, for they apparently weren't to his satisfaction.

"Its fine, we all know he's a wanker," he said, a little too cheerfully.

"Yeah but, look you shouldn't listen to a word he says."

"I know that, forget about it."

Alaw frowned and played with her fingers as Neville moved from pot to pot, messing unnecessarily with each and avoiding her gaze.

"Um, the Boggart…" Alaw ventured.

"It's nothing," Neville mumbled.

"But we were wondering, it talked about your parents,"

"I said it's nothing! Just drop it, Al," Neville said sharply.

In his agitation he bumped a trestle table and sent a pot crashing to the floor.

"Bugger," he muttered distractedly and pulled out his wand to repair the damage, but his heart just wasn't in the spell and the sherds fell apart again.

"Here, _Reparo_ ," said Alaw, and the pot mended.

She bent to pick it up and Neville kept his eyes downcast when she handed it back to him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to shout. It's just – I don't want to talk about it," he said quietly.

"Of course, if you're sure."

"I am sure. Please, Al – I'd rather be alone right now."

Alaw blinked as he turned away again. She didn't know what to do or how to comfort her friend.

"Ok," she said lamely. "I'll see you later then?"

Neville nodded and for a moment Alaw lingered and half reach out to pat Neville on the shoulder, but thought better of it. When she reached the door she heard him sniff, as though stifling tears.

Neville didn't make an appearance in afternoon lectures or at dinner. Ron informed the girls that he'd seen Neville shut himself in his room at around two and that he hadn't emerged since.

"Shit, I wish he'd let us help him," said Alaw.

She'd been feeling worried all afternoon that she hadn't tried harder to comfort Neville, but she had never been very good at that sort of thing. Being a rather melodramatic teenagers meant that more often than not, it was she who'd needed comforting, be it in the playground at school or in the toilets at parties.

"Ron, can you take Neville some food?" Hermione suggested at dinner drew to an end.

"Yeah, and can you try talking to him?" Alaw added. "I dunno, maybe it'll be better coming from a bloke, you know?"

"'Course, can't see him wanting to talk much mind – but I'll try I promise!" Ron added quickly when he saw the look on Alaw's face.

He and Hermione took to the stairs and Alaw wondered down to the dungeons. As she neared the door to Snape's classroom it opened and the white-blonde head of Draco emerged.

"What were you doing in there?" she asked, more out of curiosity than suspicion. Draco scowled.

"Yeah, like that's any of your business Jones," he sneered.

Alaw rolled her eyes and stepped out of his way as he swept past towards the stairs.

"Dinner's already over," she informed him and Draco threw her an exasperated look.

"That's not where I'm going, Jones," he said, clearly lying because he looked disappointed. "Honestly, have you always had this knack for sticking your big ugly nose in where it doesn't belong?"

"Yeah, must be a gift," Alaw retorted, absently scratching her nose to covertly inspect it for sudden largeness or other unattractive features. She turned but had barely taken two steps before Draco asked,

"How's Longbottom incidentally? Still bawling like a two year old about his mummy and daddy?"

Alaw froze then whipped around. Draco flashed her a mean smile and started to saunter away but Alaw grabbed his shoulder and yanked him around.

"Don't touch me you dirty mud-blood!" Draco hissed, looking genuinely appalled by her contact. Alaw whipped out her wand.

"Don't call me that, and what do you know about Neville's mum and dad?"

"Get off me before I catch something!"

"Answer the question!"

There was a minor scuffle which resulted in Draco backing into the wall with Alaw's hand still on his chest to prevent him leaving. Each had their wand tip pressed to the other's cheek and Alaw quickly assessed the situation. Draco was a very good dualist, better than Theodore and certainly better than herself. She backed off a little so they had a couple of feet breathing space.

"What do you know that I don't?" she asked steadily.

"That your kind are riddled with all sorts of bugs, now I have you go to Madam Pomphrey you cow!" Draco complained.

"About Neville's parents!" Alaw snapped impatiently. "Tell me, or would you like everyone to know that wand you're holding isn't the one your daddy picked out for you?"

Draco's cheeks went white and his eyes narrowed. Alaw was banking on this being sensitive information, otherwise she'd just got herself into a very sticky situation. But she remembered how shifty Draco had been in Ollivander's, how he had threatened the wand-maker to ensure his silence on the matter. She had since deduced, going on what she'd heard about the Malfoy family, that Draco's father had chosen a powerful wand for his son which hadn't worked properly. Draco had subsequently been forced to purchase a new wand on the sneak.

"You know I could destroy you in a fight right?" Draco pointed out. He was speaking quite calmly, but Alaw could tell he was desperate to curse her.

"I don't doubt it," Alaw said, just as calmly. "That won't stop me telling people. You know how rumours get going in this place, do you really think your dad wouldn't hear about it eventually?"

Draco's eyebrows knitted together but after a tense pause, he lowered his wand. Alaw followed suit and they both pocketed their weapons.

"You know one of these days your shit-stirring will get you into trouble, Jones," Draco said sourly.

"Not shit-stirring, just protecting myself. I think it's very Slytherin personally. So, Neville's mum and dad?"

"Alright," Draco sighed. "There's been this rumour going around for years about the Longbottom's. They were Aurors and they were quite important during the War."

"What war?" Alaw asked and Draco's eyes went wide.

"You are joking right?" he said slowly. "THE War? The War between the Ministry and the Dark Lord's revolutionaries? Ended about eighteen years ago?"

"Oh, that war," said Alaw, still completely clueless but wanting to get the whole story out of Draco before he changed his mind. Draco didn't seem terribly convinced and shook his head.

"Anyway," he went on, "When the Dark Lord vanished some of his followers heard that the Aurors might know where he was, so they tracked down the Longbottom's, but as it turned out they didn't know anything."

"So, then was happened?" Alaw asked, dreading the answer. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"What do you think happened? They killed them and got sent to Azkaban."

Alaw stared at him and shuddered slightly. She'd read about Azkaban in one of Charity's introductory books, and she'd thought it sounded barbaric, inhumane. But now that she reflected on the fate of Mr and Mrs Longbottom, she wondered if perhaps some people deserved to be in there.

"Bastards," she muttered. Draco shrugged.

"War is war, sometimes people die." he said harshly. "Can I go now?"

"Yeah fine," Alaw sighed, too wrapped up in sad feelings over Neville to care much.

"And swear you won't breathe a word about my wand," Draco added hastily and Alaw waved a hand vaguely.

"Yeah yeah, I won't tell a soul. Not unless I find racist shit posted on my door again, you wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

Draco scowled and Alaw sniffed.

"Didn't think so."

Neville re-joined classes the following day and acted as though nothing had happened. Taking their que from him, Alaw, Ron and Hermione made no comment on his absence, although the two girls exchanged a worried glance when he arrived for breakfast with his eyes very red. Alaw had confided in Hermione what Draco had told her the previous evening and they'd both agreed not to mention it to Neville. It was hard to tell how many people knew about his parents and their demise, perhaps it was just the sort of thing discussed by the Old Families in private when topics for gossip were scarce and their offspring had come to overhear it.

In any case the hype about the Boggart died down fairly quickly and life returned to normal. Except that Alaw couldn't stop wondering about this war Draco had mentions. It sounded like something she ought to know about but since her preferred topic for reading was ancient rather than recent history, it was small wonder she was behind the times. However, she was to learn all about the 'War' that Friday in Wizarding World.

These lessons hadn't become any less interesting as the weeks progressed and all the muggle-borns still showed bang on time, eager and excited.

"Right, today I thought I'd invite questions from the floor," Charity explained as they all settled down and took out notebooks and pens. "Anyone have something they'd desperately like to discuss?"

At once, Alaw's hand went into the air, beating even Hermione.

"Professor, someone was talking about 'the War' the other day and they seemed shocked when I did know what it was. Who's 'the Dark Lord'?"

Charity blinked at her student and then sighed and perched herself on the edge of her desk with her arms crossed.

"Yes, I suppose I really ought to have broached this topic sooner. The War did have a huge effect on the modern Wizarding community it seems silly not mention it."

The muggle-borns all sat up a little straighter and pens were clicked, poised to take notes. Charity didn't look nearly as excited as her students, she looked a little depressed, like this was something she'd rather not have to tell them.

"During the late sixties a man styling himself as the Dark Lord, or Lord Voldemort –"

She paused as several people, including Alaw, snorted.

"Yes," she said, smiling faintly in spite of herself. "I know it sound stupid to a muggle-born this was a very, _very_ dangerous man. He was so feared that his very name has becomes a kind of jinx. For those growing up hearing about him, saying the name aloud triggers a rush a fear. Luckily for you you're all too old for that to happen to you."

 _Thank god_ , thought Alaw, _Lord Voldemort, what pretentious name_. Charity allowed them a few moments to snigger before going on.

"I want to impress upon all of you just how serious this is. I don't personally believe in absolutes like evil, but for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named I make an exception. He was a pureblood extremist of the most fanatical breed. He started to gather a band of followers, and I do mean followers, the Death Eaters as they called themselves were more like a cult than a political movement. It started with offensive flyers and petitions, then the attacks begun.

Throughout the seventies the assaults on Muggles and muggle-borns escalated, there were a lot of deaths. The Ministry fought to keep order and to hide the devastation from the muggles, and there were a few victories for them but it was a very bloody war indeed."

No one was laughing now, the students were hanging on Charity's every word.

"It all came to a head," she continued. "In the early nineties. Sometime in March or April of 95, the Dark Lord vanished. It took a while for the Ministry to realise because he'd always operated in the utmost secrecy, but the attacks stopped and they learnt the truth from the Death Eaters they apprehended, their master was gone. No one knows what happened to him but the general consensus is that he died, whether naturally or at the hands of another. Anyway the Death Eaters were eventually rounded up and Wizarding society has been a peace for nearly two decades now."

She finished talking but still her students stared at her as though they were expecting more. Alaw didn't feel remotely like laughing now. It was these 'Death Eaters' who had killed Neville's parents. He couldn't even have been a year old before they snatched away his family. The atmosphere in the classroom was subdued for the rest of the hour, during which they continued to discuss various aspects of the war. No one spoke very much as they shuffled out but Charity called Alaw back.

"Here," she said, going to the shelf behind the teacher's desk and extracting a book. "I think you should read this, it would be useful."

She handed the tome to Alaw who ran her eye over the cover _, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_.

"Um, thank you," she said, a little nonplussed. Why was she being singled out to read this particular book?

"It should give you a clearer idea of who the Dark Lord was," said Charity, giving Alaw a meaningful look. Alaw however was still completely in the dark and she left the classroom feeling confused. Hermione was waiting for her outside.

"How horrible," Hermione sighed. "Poor Neville, now I understand why he's been acting so weird!"

"This Voldemort bloke sounds like a right murderous bastard." Alaw said bitterly. "So it was him who started all this Pureblood stuff up, 'cause you'd think that sort of prejudice should have died down by this century, but what we're getting is the fall-out from this bloody war!"

"But what was he even trying to achieve?" Hermione asked, bewildered. "What was the point?"

"What was who trying to achieve?" asked Ron, who had just caught up with them with the twins in toe.

"Voldemort," Alaw said.

It was as though she had voiced a disgusting racial slur. Everyone within earshot on the crowded corridor gasped and heads snapped in her direction. Ron's face drained of colour and even Fred and George looked shocked.

"Are – you – _mental_?!" Ron whispered in a strangled voice. "You can't say that!"

"Oh come on," Alaw chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Grow up, it's just a name."

"It is NOT just a name!" Ron cried, staring at Alaw like he thought she had lost her mind. "Seriously, you can't say that, don't you feel the chills?!"

"No," said Alaw and Hermione in puzzled unison.

"So that's a real thing?" Hermione asked curiously. "Charity said the name was mildly jinxed, but I didn't take it too seriously."

Ron continued to mouth at the pair of them until Fred clouted him on the ear to snap him out of it.

"Calm down Ron, they're muggle-borns remember? They're too old to pick up the jinx. It's not a big deal."

"Yeah but still," Ron grumbled.

But he didn't press the subject. The twins invited him and the girls to Warlock's Nook for an early lunch and since the weather was fine, they agreed. Once they were on the lane to the village, with their cloaks wrapped about them against the chilly wind, Ron asked,

"Why were you talking about You-Know-Who anyway?"

"Oh, we just had a lesson about the UK War," Hermione explained. "I've had so much reading to do I hadn't reached the twentieth century stuff yet, so we were hearing about it for the first time."

"It sounded horrible," said Alaw, and she looked at Fred and George. "You don't remember it do you?"

"Nah," said George. "We were only two when You-Know-Who disappeared. Remember the aftermath though, lots of Ministry crack downs. And our uncles died towards the end of the War."

"Oh my god," Alaw exclaimed. "I'm so sorry!"

"Thanks, but we don't remember them either."

It wasn't a cheery trip into Hogsmead, even though the Twins tried to lighten the mood by loudly encouraging Ron to flirt with the pretty waitress. Although the sight of Ron's reddening ears was amusing, Alaw didn't feel much like laughing for the rest of the day. She was still down a few hours later when dinner rolled around.

"What's wrong?" Neville asked when Alaw, Ron and Hermione sat down looking dejected.

"Nothing!" Alaw said quickly before Ron could put his foot in it. The last thing she wanted was for Neville to find out they'd been discussing the source of his misery behind his back. She cast around quickly for something to distract them all and a brilliant idea popped into her head.

"Hey! You two have to come to Dufftown with us tomorrow," she said and Hermione smiled.

"Oh yes, that's a brilliant idea, you'll love it."

Ron and Neville didn't look too enthusiastic about the idea.

"I don't know, it sounds sort of boring, what do you do all day? Just walk around the town?"

"No! Well, yeah, but we do loads of stuff. We were planning to go to the cinema and then get some pizza afterwards. Come on, _pleeeeaaaase_?"

Alaw clasped her hands together and looked at the boys with her lip quivering. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Oh alright, beats doing that Transfiguration essay anyway."

As Hermione had predicted, the boys thoroughly enjoyed their jaunt into the muggle world. Neither of them had ever seen a television, let alone a cinema, so Alaw made sure to choose a suitably exciting flick for them to watch. She and Hermione sat on either side of the boys and suffered through two hours of their squealing and arm punching as they watched the latest superhero film to be churned out.

Afterwards, they treated themselves to several large pizzas and introduced Ron to fizzy drinks ('Why do you like this?! It burns!') and cash points ('but – that's paper, how can that be money?'). By the time they'd returned – reluctantly – to school, all four of them were extremely hyper. Alaw congratulated herself on cheering Neville up and making amends with Ron for scaring the crap out of him.


	11. Chapter 10 - The Monster in the Box

Chapter Ten 

The Monster in the Box

"Yes, Ron, I understand that it's exciting, I just don't understand why you obsess over it so much."

"Oh, like your obsessions are any healthier. Look, it will do you some good to get out of the library for a while."

"I said I'd come! Even though we've got two essays and a Potion to research."

Alaw ignored Ron and Hermione's argument as she shovelled porridge in her mouth hungrily. She was feeling a bit stuffy from all the extra layers she was wearing - including a Slytherin jersey she'd seen on sale in _Jinx_ the previous day - but the weather was getting colder every day and Ron had assured them that they could be outside for a good few hours. Today was the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor vs Slytherin, and an air of excitement hung over the Great Hall. Everyone was clad in their team regalia and a fair amount of trash talk was being exchanged.

Ron had attempted to explain the rules of the game to Alaw and Hermione but with little success. He wasn't very coherent and kept going off on a tangent about why this team or that shouldn't have won a certain match, or been awarded a certain penalty. Alaw only had a vague idea of how Quidditch was even played but was eager none the less to see it done. She was yet to witness anyone flying on a broomstick and she perked up as Fred and George walked in, fully kitted out in kneepads, skull-caps and Beater's bats. Their brooms were swung over their shoulders and Alaw leant forward to ogle George's avidly.

"But doesn't it kill your balls?" she asked wonderingly, causing Neville to inhale his orange juice.

"A bit, but there's a cushioning charm so it's not so bad," said George conversationally. "You're coming to watch aren't you?"

"You bet, got to support my home team," said Alaw, proudly pushing out her chest to display the Slytherin crest embossed there.

"Must be sacrilege for a Slytherin to sit with the Gryffindor team on the morning of a match," said Fred. "Wood's already warned us not to fraternise too much with you in case you throw us off our game."

"Damn, he saw right through me," Alaw said, clicking her fingers in mock disappointment. "Well, you'll understand if I don't wish you too much luck."

Once they'd finished their breakfast, Alaw, Ron, Hermione and Neville said goodbye to the twins who were heading off to join the rest of the team. They then allowed themselves to be swept along in the tide of students marching down to the pitch. Alaw had never been to this part of the grounds before and she craned her neck to look up at the stands, all bedecked in the house colours. As they began to climb the creaking stairs she swallowed and clutched the railing tightly in her gloved hand. Hermione glanced over her shoulder.

"You alright?" she murmured and Alaw nodded stiffly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, trying to sound confident. Ron clapped her on the back which didn't help her balance.

"It's ok mate, it's not much higher," he said bracingly.

Alaw took a fortifying breath and pressed on, trying to ignore the wobbling in her legs and the dizziness that swept over her. But once they'd edged out into the stands and taken their seats, she felt a lot better. The sun was shining brightly in the cloudless sky and the pitch below glistened from a hard ground frost. When the two teams walked onto the pitch the crowd gave an appreciative roar and Alaw clapped enthusiastically along with everyone else. Then she gasped as Madam Hooch, the referee, flew from over her head to land between the teams below.

"Ron! Ron! Did you see that?!" Alaw squealed, punching him repeatedly on the arm and bouncing up and down in her seat. Ron sniggered and batted her hands away.

"Yes, Al, I did. You're not going to be like this for the whole game are you?"

But Alaw ignored him because the four balls had just been released and all fourteen players had shot into the air. There was a scramble for the Quaffle, which as far as Alaw had been able to deduce from Ron's lecture was something akin to a leather football. A Chaser in Gryffindor colours came away from the scrum with it tucked under her arm and a voice rang out across the stadium.

"And they're off, that's Spinnet with the Quaffle, quite a flyer that girl and a reserve from last year's team, but she still says no when I ask her for drinks at the weekend."

"Is that Lee?" Hermione asked, laughing along with everyone else.

Alaw glanced towards the staff box where she saw Lee Jordan holding the magical megaphone beside a very disapproving Professor McGonagall. Alicia Spinnet zoomed across the pitch and dodged two Slytherin players superbly, only to drop the Quaffle as she swerved to avoid a Bludger. Alaw gasped and clutched Ron's arm as the heavy black ball barely missed her head before shooting away to attack Slytherin's seeker.

The Quaffle had been caught by Marcus Flint who rocketed away towards the Gryffindor goalposts where Oliver Wood was bobbing around trying to second guess from which direction he'd shoot. But Flint never made it to the scoring area because Fred Weasley knocked a Bludger into his path and it caught him in the belly. Alaw screamed on impact and her hands flew to cover her mouth.

"Oh my god! Is he alright?!" she cried shrilly, straining to see what was happening.

"Calm down he's fine," Ron said off-handedly. "Look, he's up now."

Flint had straightened up, though he looked green, and Alaw found she wasn't relishing in his pain as much as Ron and the other Gryffindor supporters. She didn't much like Flint, he was one of Theodore's faithful friends and he had a nasty habit of feeling up girls in Wizhard, but the brutality of the game made Alaw wince.

Angelina Johnson took advantage of Flint's distraction to yank the Quaffle from his grip and make a break for the other end of the pitch. A few fast-paced minutes and some sort of foul called 'Blurting' later, Gryffindor scored the first goal of the match by penalty. Alaw leapt to her feet along with the scarlet wave and cheered in spite of herself. Team loyalty didn't register with her, and she clapped and screamed again fifteen minutes later when Slytherin put the Quaffle past Wood.

She plopped down again, grinning widely and not caring about the strange looks that came her way. She'd always hated sports, both playing and watching, though it was impossible to escape it in her house when the rugby was on. But Quidditch was a hundred times more engrossing than any other game she'd ever seen and when the game ended two hours and a half after it had started, she'd barely sat down.

"Bad luck, mate, maybe next time," Ron said patronisingly as they poured out of the stands and headed back to the castle for the traditional post-match party.

"Hey, we nearly beat you!" Alaw complained good-naturedly. "There was only one goal in it."

She spotted Cameron and Flora walking a few paces ahead and she dragged her friends forward so she could hail them.

"Hey, good match right?" she asked and Cameron raised an eyebrow at her.

"We lost, how is that good?" he asked bitterly. Alaw grinned and shrugged.

"Dunno it just is, we played well didn't we? I couldn't really tell."

"Al's never seen a match before," Neville explained and Cameron nodded understandingly.

"Shame you had to see a loss on your first time. But we'll get them next time."

"In your dreams, your Chasers aren't a patch on ours," Ron goaded and Cameron snorted.

"No way! You're tactics are all over the place!"

The two boys launched into an argument about strategy, but it was civil so Alaw let them get on with it. She was glad she'd invited her Slytherin friends to the Halloween party because ever since then, inter-house relations had been much better. At least she'd found a group of Slytherins the Gryffindors didn't mind being in the same room with. When they reached the Entrance Hall, Alaw made to follow Cameron and Flora into lunch, but Ron plucked as her jersey.

"Come on, there'll be food at the party, Fred and George always nab some stuff from the kitchens," he said, jerking his head towards the stairs.

Alaw hung back wearily.

"You sure I'm allowed? I know Percy made an exception that one time, but…"

She trailed off and Ron rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry about Percy, he won't even notice you! You might want to take that thing off though,"

He eyed her jumped and she smiled, pulling it over her head and running to catch up with Flora, asking her to dump it in the Common Room somewhere.

As Ron had predicted, Gryffindor Tower was far too crowded for Percy to spot Alaw tucked away in a corner, chowing down on Fred and George's contraband from the kitchens. She'd expected things to wind down as the afternoon progressed but they didn't. After a brief lull at dinner, things picked up again when the Twins produced kegs of Butterbeer and everyone started singing drinking songs. Hermione tried muttering something about going to bed when the clock struck eleven but Alaw, who was having none of it, shoved a drink into her hand and cried,

"Down it Fresher!"

"Down it what?" Lavender asked curiously, as Hermione tried to empty her cup as fast as she could, whilst the crowd egged her on.

"Fresher, it's something people say at university," Alaw explained. "Like this, listen, _weeeeeeee, like to drink with Hermione, cause Hermione is our mate, and when we drink with Hermione she downs it down in eight – seven – six – five – four_ …"

The new chant was quickly adopted by the Gryffindors and for the rest of the night the Tower was filled with drunken singing. Alaw lost count of how many cups of Pumpkin Schnapps and Vodka mixers were foisted on her but she happily complied with each request. By three o clock she was swaying all over the place and collapsed on one of the sofas in a fit of giggles. Ron was already passed out in an armchair with a charcoal moustache etched on his upper lip – courtesy of the twins. A group of fourth years were having a blurry conversation about the meaning of life over by the windows, Parvati was giggling with Seamus in a corner and Hermione had long since slipped off to bed.

Alaw yawned and kicked off her shoes, deciding she was highly unlikely to return to the Dungeons that evening. Neville was sitting in the armchair opposite Ron's, nursing a glass of rum and gazing into the dying fire pensively. Alaw watched him for a while before asking,

"Why so glum chum?"

He started, only just realising she was there, and then smiled tiredly.

"Nothing, just thinking. It was a great match wasn't it?"

"Yeah it was," Alaw sighed happily, puting her stockinged feet up on the arm rest and stretching. "You wouldn't catch me on a broom though."

"I suppose not," Neville grinned. Then he glanced around the common room, and then at his watch. "I'd better get to bed, you staying here tonight then?"

"Yeah, can't be bothered to find my way downstairs in the dark. Plus Flitch hates it when people wonder around at night. I think I'll just kip here for a bit."

Neville bade her goodnight and Alaw settled herself down on the cushions, dragging Ron's abandoned Gryffindor jumper over herself as a blanket. Sleep came easily and after only a few minutes of gazing at the smouldering embers in the grate, Alaw's eyelids drooped closed.

 _Alaw slipped into a very strange dream. She was flying on the Quidditch pitch, but not on a broom, but by the wings which had sprouted from her back. She was dodging between all the other players and following the golden trail on the snitch. Below her the crowd was screaming and cheering her on, gasping as Alaw dancing around a Bludger. She was reaching out to grab the tiny golden ball, it was barely inches from her fingertips, when suddenly - she was falling. Her wings had disappeared! She was tumbling through the air which clawed at her hair and clothes, her mouth wide in a silent scream._

 _She hit the ground and the whole world went black. Alaw blinked in the sudden darkness and the only sound she could hear was her own wheezing breath, and the beating of her heart. She felt – weak, weak as a newborn lamb and just as sticky and disoriented. She could feel her bare feet resting against a solid, grainy surface and when she stretched out her hands they too encountered a barrier. She was trapped in a box. Panic gripped her and she swallowed, only to find the action incredibly painful to her raw throat._

 _And the box she was in wasn't stationary, it was jiggling all over the place like it was riding in the back of a wagon. Then, it was put down a little too roughly and all became still. A chink of light appeared as the lid of the box was eased open and Alaw screwed up her eyes against the glare of a dancing candle._

" _Are you comfortable, my lord?" asked a quavering voice. It sounded odd on her malformed ears, like she was hearing it from deep under water._

" _Do I look comfortable, fool?" she rasped irritably, in a voice most unlike her own. "Why did you wake me? I was dreaming."_

" _Apologies, my lord, I only meant to inform you that we had arrived," said the nervous voice._

 _It was so distorted that Alaw could barely deduce its gender, though she suspected male. But it was the words that excited her, and she lifted her head a little eagerly, trying to see past the candle light and the dark shape which held it._

" _The castle? My beloved Hogwarts, is it unchanged?"_

" _I should think so, my lord. I have a safe place where I can store you –"_

" _Store me?" Alaw asked imperiously. "Am I a package to be stored away? You will take me where I instruct you, so that I may set up my plans."_

" _Y-yes my lord, anything, my lord. Where is it you wish to be taken?"_

A loud thump and a curse from nearby made Alaw jerk awake with a startled gasp. The sudden movement made her head spin and she fell back on the cushions with a groan. The fire had died completely now, and a grey light was creeping in through the windows. By this, she saw Ron picking himself up off the rug where he had just tripped over a discarded Butterbeer bottle.

"Sorry," he whispered. "Didn't mean to wake you."

"S'alright," Alaw slurred, then she yawned hugely. "What time is it?"

"Uh, six o clock," Ron replied, peering at his watch. "Go back to sleep."

"Nah, I'd better get back to the Dungeons before I get copped by Percy or someone," Alaw said.

She sat up again and stretched painfully. The sofa was not a comfortable length for her sleep on and she felt stiff and cold. After throwing Ron his jumped and thanking him for the great party, Alaw yanked on her shoes and tiptoed as steadily as she could out of Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady was snoozing so Alaw closed the portrait as carefully as she could before setting off at a trot towards the stairs. No one was about yet, as Sunday mornings tended to be lazy, and as Alaw walked she wondered about her dream. 

It had been most bizarre, she'd always had a knack for remembering the jist of her dreams but this one was as vivid as a memory, as though it had actually happened. And it really did feel like the episode in the box had interrupted her earlier, more fanciful dream.

"Wah! Shit," she swore as she missed the trick step and nearly fell flat on her face at the bottom of the stairs.

Grumbling, she straightened up and headed off for the dungeons and a hot shower. She decided to shrug off the strange feeling left by the dream, reflecting that it couldn't be that important anyway.

Snow began to fall sporadically towards the end of November, though it never stuck for more than a few hours. The air was so cold that Alaw wore her hat and scarf in the corridors between classes, and in the evenings was immensely grateful for the crackling fire in the common room, and the heat producing pipes in her room. At night, the high winds whipped up the lake and the waves lashed against her window, but she manged to sleep peacefully through most squalls.

Her lessons were just as interesting as ever, though Potions class was still a weakly chore she endured with an ill grace. Snape had decided it was too disruptive to have Alaw and Theodore sitting next to each other, so he'd swapped her with Pansy, so that Draco was now her partner. As Draco was prone to ignore her these days, the arrangement suited Alaw fine.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was going well for her these days, though her mark was still hovering stubbornly around the 'Acceptable' grade. Lupin had admitted he didn't think combat magic really suited her, but that she'd get better in latter classes, when they broadened the scope of their fighting techniques. They'd been working on a smokescreen spell which Alaw was keen to learn – in case she ever needed to make a quick getaway – so when she entered Lupin's classroom on Wednesday morning, she was disappointed to find the desks hadn't been pushed out of the way for practise.

Professor Lupin wasn't there yet so the first years took their seats and pulled out books and parchment, guessing this would be a theoretical lesson. The bell rang and yet Lupin did not appear. Instead, ten minutes after the lesson should have started, the door opened and a young wizard who couldn't have been much older than the students came in looking flustered. Everyone turned to gaze at him in surprise and he dropped the armful of scrolls he was carrying as he made his way to the desk.

"So sorry I'm late – sorry – ah, thank you," he blustered as Hestia helped him pick up the scrolls.

He had a nervous face, a somewhat weak chin and a huge purple turban which drooped low on his forehead. A few people murmured comments to one another as he put the scrolls down on the teacher's desk – dropping half of them again in the process – and turned to face the class.

"G-good morning," he said with a slight stutter. "I'm P-professor Quirrell. Professor L-Lupin is indisposed today so I am stepping in as your substitute teacher. I'll be his teaching assistant for the rest of the year."

His ended up being a very dull lecture about the merits of theoretical defensive magic. Alaw kept notes but mostly she fantasised about Christmas which was just around the corner, and what she was going to buy everyone. When the lesson ended everyone was very eager to leave and no one stayed to help Quirrell with his mountain of papers.

"God that was boring," Ron complained once they were out of earshot of the classroom. "Hope Lupin gets better soon."

"Gets better? What's wrong with him?" Alaw asked anxiously.

"Didn't you hear? He's ill poor bugger, got some sort of long term thing I think."

The last week of November drew to a close with little in the way of excitement. The end of term essays were due soon and Alaw's classmates could be found most evenings hunched over desks in their respective common rooms or browsing in the library. Alaw herself had had a whispered tussle over a Potions book with Draco Malfoy, until Madam Pince the librarian had come along and they'd been forced to act casually.

With the good study spots all taken and the road to Hogsmead long and ice covered, Alaw, Ron, Hermione and Neville found themselves spending a lot of time down at Hagrid's hut. Hagrid was always happy to let out his kitchen table for study sessions and always had a pot of tea and the latest gossip from the village ready for them. Alaw guessed he enjoyed the company because he was always delighted to see them.

On the first Saturday of December they helped him pick out the twelve pine trees which would be chopped down and dragged up to the Great Hall. Professor Flitwick made himself very popular with the first years by telling them that – as 'practise' – it was their job to decorate the trees with all the charms they'd learnt so far that term. Needless to say it was the most fun any of them had ever had with a homework assignment, even if the Great Hall looked like it had been the victim of a horrific tinsel and holly bomb attack by the time they were finished.

Whilst Flitwick quietly tidied up the Hall, decorations went up throughout the rest of the castle too. Holly was wrapped around the banisters, golden bells tickled in mid-air beneath all the archways and magical snow fell in the corridors. Alaw did her best to make the Slytherin Common Room more cheerful by requesting an extra tree from Hagrid and decorating it one evening with Cameron, Flora and half a dozen others. She didn't expect her poor tree would survive Theodore's spite very long but it looked nice in the meantime and filled the room with the smell of pine.

Alaw and Hermione met with an unexpected conundrum when they walked into Hogsmead with Neville a week before the end of term to buy their presents.

"I don't know what to get mum and dad," Hermione said, sounding surprised with herself. "It didn't occur to me that there isn't much available here for muggles."

"I know what you mean," Alaw sighed as she wondered around Zonko's Joke Shop, ducking every so often as the merchandise went flying off the shelves. "I wanted to get my brother giggling sweets, he'd love them! But then it occurred to me you can't just give something like that to a muggle and expect them not to ask questions, although, Osh can be a bit dim at times, he might not notice."

Deciding they'd rather not get arrested by the Ministry for impeaching the Statue of Secrecy, they left Zonko's and crossed the icy high-street to Scrivenshaft's, where Hermione wanted to hunt down a fancy quill for her father.

"A quill isn't magical, I'll tell him I got it from an olde timey shop," she said reasonably, and she ambled down the shelves.

Neville and Alaw stayed by the door, examining a case of spellchecking quills which were supposedly on sale, but were no-where near a price Alaw would be happy with.

"What are you doing for Christmas then?" Alaw asked vaguely.

"Oh, just a quiet one with Gran back home. Uncle Algie and Aunty Enid might pop round, but that'll just end up turning into an argument like it always does. You?" Neville asked.

"Home with the parents and Osian, then on Boxing day all the aunties and uncles and cousins come round. I have a _big_ family," Alaw grinned ruefully. "It can get pretty rowdy."

"I'd love to have a big family," said Neville, a little wistfully. "There used to be lots of us, before, well, the War."

Alaw kicked herself for bringing up the subject of family and was deeply grateful to Hermione for appearing at that moment to ask their opinion of a selection she'd just made. It took two hours, but at long last they left the village, laden with shopping bags but barely any coins. In the end, Alaw had had to abandon the idea of giggling sweets, and instead had popped into Spintwitche's Quidditch Shop and purchased a jumper in the colours of the Holyhead Harpies for Osian.

"He's not going to know it's a magical team is he?" she asked.

For her mother she'd taken Hermione's lead and snagged a case of fountain pens and for her father, a supply of non-enchanted fudge. It was quite a challenge to get back to the castle because the snow had finally settled and the drifts were growing larger every day. As they trudged up the drive, Alaw could see people having snowball fights across the lawn. She grinned, she'd promised the Weasley Twins she'd join them in battle against Ron and the others at some point over the weekend, and she was looking forward to it.

"Bloody hell, it never snows like this at home!" she exclaimed as they reached the warmth of the Entrance Hall. "I suppose cause we're on the coast, there's too much salt in the air."

Neville and Hermione took to Gryffindor Tower so they could drop off their purchases, but Alaw, who'd missed breakfast, turned right into the Great Hall where lunch had just started. As she was alone, she sauntered along the Slytherin table for a change and came across Flora and her friends Eda Morley and Daphne Greengrass. Flora was patting a sobbing Julia Fawley on the back.

"What's the matter?" Alaw asked as she dumped her heavy bags and clambered onto the bench.

Julia simply wailed and Flora lent forward, whispering unnecessarily.

"Gideon just broke off their engagement, in front of a bunch of people."

"No!" Alaw cried despairingly. "He can't do that!"

Her consternation had little to do with Julia's distress, she'd always been fairly unpleasant towards Alaw. No, this was disastrous news because Alaw now no longer had any usable dirt of Theodore Knott, not since she'd publicly announced that she'd beaten the crap out of him.

"I don't see what the problem is," said Hermione when Alaw caught up with her later in the library and recounted the tale.

"Hermione, that secret was the only thing keeping me alive!" Alaw said crossly.

"Oh don't be so silly," Hermione scoffed, picking up a text book and flicking through it looking for a reference.

"I'm not –" Alaw began hotly, but was forced to shup her mouth and bend over her work until a suspicious Madam Pince had passed them by. When she was gone, Alaw continued, although in a whisper. "I'm _not_ being silly. Slytherin House works on a system of reputation, it's a network of friendships and enemies. And I mean serious enemies, like business rivals really. The fact that Theodore shagged Julia was the only thing I had to dangle over his head, but now…"

She let the sentence hang dramatically and Hermione sighed, inking her quill and jotting down a few more words of her essay.

"I think you're over reacting," she said. "You've been in Slytherin for months now, Theodore's not going to try anything stupid, not after nearly getting expelled last time."

But Alaw was certain he would try something now that her threat had become meaningless. She needed to find something else to use, and quickly. Cameron's gossip chain was starting to dry up as term came to a close and besides, idle rumour wasn't enough to deter Theodore for much longer. Alaw needed something bigger, proof of a real misdeed or even a crime, but the closest she had to that was hearsay about Marcus Flint selling Venomous Tentacula to some dodgy dealer in Hogsmead. How did one acquire proof? She wished she had the power of the Auror office, with a huge network of informants and the law to back her up. But she had none of that. All she had were her wits, and a lot of gossip.

It was late by the time she and Hermione finished their work and left the library. They didn't speak much as Alaw was still chewing over the Theodore Knott problem and Hermione was convinced she was worried for nothing. They mumbled vague goodnights on the stairs and Alaw barely watched where she was going as she meandered back to her dormitory. Perhaps she could hire someone to sniff out evidence for her – but that wouldn't work, she didn't have any money and besides, she didn't know anyone like that.

She walked right past the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room before she realised her mistake and trotted back.

"Good King Wenceslas," she said to the blank stretch of wall – the new festive password.

The bricks slid apart and she stepped inside, blinking in the dusk. She just about had time to register that the room was completely empty, when her vision was snatched from her. Alaw yelled in fright as she was struck blind and then wobbled, suddenly unbalanced. Before she could call out for help, something hit her hard in the stomach and she doubled over, the breath knocked out her. She recognised the sting of a strike jinx, and she fell on all-fours as another hit her back.

"Stop!" she gasped, helpless as more jinxes hit her from all directions and she threw up her hands, experience telling her to protect her face in particular.

What was frightening was the fact that no one spoke, not a word was uttered by her assailants. Not even laughter, or jeering, not so much as a grunt. And then hands were grabbing hold of her and she felt the sharp point of a quill on her forehead. She screamed and lashed out, but her arms were yanked behind her back and someone grabbed hold of her chin to hold her steady. The mystery person scratched something out on her forehead and then, apparently as an afterthought, squirted ink in her mouth.

Choking on the foul taste, Alaw could do nothing but allow herself to be dragged backwards and thrown bodily onto the hard stone floor. She lay there, temporarily stunned, and listened to the sound of the wall closing itself after her. After a few seconds, the blackness began to fade away and she blinked rapidly. She spat a few times onto the floor, but the taste of the ink was still strong in her mouth, then looked up at the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room in disbelief.

Even she hadn't imagined such a brutal and frightening attack. To throw her bodily from her home was a cold act, hateful. It took her a minute or two to recover herself and she got unsteadily to her feet. But even then, Alaw wasn't sure what to do. She looked left and right down the corridor but she was utterly alone and she clutched her arms about her protectively.

 _Hermione_ , she thought to herself. Hermione would take her into Gryffindor Tower for tonight, just like she had last time. And in the morning, they'd go straight to McGonagall, or better yet Dumbledore. But first, Alaw needed to wash out her mouth.

The castle was very quiet at this late hour and Alaw met no one as she ran up to a bathroom on the first floor. She staggered to the first sink in the row and turned the tap, scooping water into her mouth and swilling it forcefully. When she spat it out again she felt much better but as she lifted her head and caught sight of herself in the mirror, she gave a sob.

 _Tell and you die_. The words were etched untidily across her face. The ink drippled down her cheeks and mingled with the tears which now flowed freely. Feeling her legs starting to give way, Alaw sunk to the floor of the bathroom and drew her knees up to her chin, rocking backwards and forwards and crying silent tears of fear. She couldn't tell anyone. Hermione was sure to go straight to a teacher, as were any of her other friends. And Alaw had no doubt that her attackers meant what they threatened, and she had no doubt they'd get away with it. After all, rich and powerful people could sweep such trifling matters as murder to one side. It was an accident, they'd say, or suicide.

It took a long time, but Alaw eventually ran out of tears and managed to haul herself back to her feet. Once up, she filled the sink with warm water and rubbed furiously at her face to wash away the ink. After that all she had to do was think of somewhere to spend the night in peace.

 **Hope you all liked it, any questions or something you thought should have happened differently? Don't forget to review!**


	12. Chapter 11 - Hide and Seek

**Thanks a lot for the reviews, and yes, please tell your friends if you think it's any good!**

 **Toraach – That's an interesting theory, and it's true that there is a connection with Voldemort, but that's all a bit too elaborate for me to have come up with :)**

 **Guest – I assume you're referring to their ages. I aged everyone up a little for this story because I wanted to write Hogwarts as a University and skip some of the tricky teenage years.**

Chapter Eleven

Hide and Seek

As the last week of term began, the students and teachers of Hogwarts alike seemed less and less intent on their work. The mood was upbeat and cheerful, the Christmas food was delicious and Peeves entertained everyone – except Filch – at meal times by singing rude carols loudly in the Great Hall. But at night, the glow of the season dimmed and the castle became a cold and freighting place. Alaw hadn't been able to bring herself to return to the Slytherin common room, the couple of times she had tried, there had been gangs of older students hanging around the passage, tapping their wands on their thighs and shooting Alaw threatening glares.

Though no whisper of it had reached the teachers, it looked like there had been a purge in the dungeons. The day after the anonymous attack on Alaw, several of her Slytherin friends like Cameron had been walking groggily, almost limping. They refused to even look at her and Alaw didn't try and force her company on them. She felt as though she was somehow tainted now, she'd pushed to many people too far. What had she been thinking? Playing spy and taunting some of the most powerful families in Wizarding Society, no wonder this had happened. She had been sloppy, and worse, cocky.

Neville was the first of her friends to notice something was wrong. They were walking back from Hagrid's one evening after spending the afternoon down at the Hut, discussing their plans for the holidays. The weak winter sun had long since dipped below the tree tops of the Forbidden Forest they were using their wands to light the path back up to the castle.

"Al, are you alright?" Neville asked, bringing Alaw out of her reverie.

"Of course!" she answered quickly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, but you look knackered lately, have you been sleeping at all?"

"Uh, no, not really, been trying to finish all these last minute essays we have to write," Alaw lied.

In reality, she'd finished them all days ago but it was a decent cover story. Or so she thought, but Neville didn't look entirely convinced. He kept glancing worriedly at her on their walk back to Hogwarts, although making sure to duck whenever Ron's snowballs came flying their way.

At long last, term drew to a close. Alaw was extremely grateful and was counting the days until she'd be sent home. The break would give her a chance to calm down and think about her situation logically. So far, she'd been sleeping on the floor of the girl's toilets on the first floor, but that would be no good for the rest of the year. She had flirted with the idea of renting somewhere in Hogsmead as some of the post-graduate students did. But the rooms above the Three-Broomsticks were expensive and he Hogshead was dodgy.

One thing was for certain, she couldn't go home without any of her belongings. They'd been set homework to do over the holidays and she'd have no chance of completing it without at least some of her books. The night before the train was due to take them home, the students enjoyed a sumptuous dinner of honey roasted ham and mouth-watering trifle. Everyone chattered happily and Alaw tried her best to act normally – Neville was still convinced something was wrong and kept asking her about it.

After they'd all eaten their fill the Gryffindors headed upstairs to their Tower. Alaw decline Ron's offer to join them or mince pies and eggnog, telling him she wasn't finished packing. She hung around in the Entrance Hall until her friends had gone before returning the girl's bathroom. Once there, she locked the door with her wand and ran the hot water tap, filling the sink. She hadn't been able to have a shower since her expulsion from the dungeons and had instead been making do with the wash basins. She was looking forward to a nice hot bath when she got home.

Alaw paced up and down the bathroom once she was relatively clean, waiting for everyone to go to bed. What she was planning was risky, if she was caught she doubted very much she would make it out unscathed, but she had to try. If she returned home without her belongings then it would be very tricky to explain to her parents. And besides, all her presents were in her trunk, she'd be mortified to return home without them.

Her only hope of slipping into the dungeons undetected was by waiting long enough for everyone to go to sleep. She kept checking he watch every five minutes and no amount of pacing could settle her nerves. Finally, at three o clock in the morning, Alaw unlocked the bathroom door once more and peered cautiously out into the corridor. It was deserted, all the torches were either extinguished or burning low, but Alaw knew her way around well enough now not to bump into anything and make a racket. The portraits on the walls made small snuffling sounds in their sleep as she padded past on tip toes.

The Entrance Hall wasn't quite as empty as Alaw had been hoping, a couple of third year girls were giggling with each other near a niche in the wall which ought to have held a gargoyle. They were both clutching bottles of Oak Matured Mead and Alaw ran her eye over them critically. She didn't know their faces so she hoped that meant they weren't in Slytherin. She'd just have to go for it. The girls completely ignored her as she skittered across the Entrance Hall and down the stone steps to the bowls of the castle.

It was even darker down here and Alaw groped her way along the walls, not daring to light her wand and keeping her ears open for any noise. When she reached the correct blank stretch of wall, Alaw swallowed nervously and raised her wand in front of her. She wished she knew a disillusionment charm, but they weren't set to start them until next year.

"Good King Wenceslas," she whispered, and the wall slid open.

Alaw didn't enter at once, she peered into the dark common room with her wand hand shaking somewhat. _Just a quick trip_ , she told herself, _just run in, grab your trunk and then get the hell out of there._ With steps so light not even she could hear them, Alaw ventured into the Slytherin Common Room. The fire had died in the grate and beyond the windows, strange shapes swirled in the deep Lake.

She was halfway to the dormitory passage when the torches suddenly burst into life and a figure rose from one of the arm chairs. It was Goyle, and he looked like he'd only just woken up.

"Oi!" he cried, catching sight of her. "Theodore! Draco! She's here! The bitch is here!"

Alaw heard doors slamming against the stone walls and as she moved back towards the exit, Goyle planted himself between her and freedom. He pointed his wand at her but Alaw snorted contemptuously. Draco, perhaps, but Goyle? She could floor this incompetent creep with ease.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Alaw cried and the jinx hit Goyle squarely between his dull eyes.

His arms and legs snapped together and he keeled over, landing nose first on the carpet. Alaw sprang for the exit, making sure to stamp hard on Goyle as she passed. She could hear shouting behind her, bellowed oaths and calls for aide. He only choice was to run pell-mell down passage after passage, bouncing off the walls in her haste and skidding on the smooth floors. Surely the stairs were around here somewhere? But alas, as she encountered yet another completely unrecognisable corridor, Alaw realised with horror that she had taken a wrong turn somewhere, and she was hopelessly lost.

What was more, her pursuers were gaining on her, and she appeared to her hit a dead end. All the doors she encountered were locked and either would respond to her spells, or she was too jittery to cast them properly. In desperation, Alaw found and niche in the wall and crouched down, cowering. Flickering lights appeared at the end of the corridor and she heard the voices of Theodore, Draco and Marcus Flint more clearly.

"She can't have gotten far, it's all dead ends down here," said Marcus. "We should split up. What do you want us to do with her once we find her?"

"Keep her trapped, or bring her to the rest of us." said Theodore darkly. "Stupid cow, I thought she'd have learnt her lesson by now, but apparently they breed them dense in the muggle world."

"But, Theo, what exactly are you going to do to her?" Draco asked. He sounded a tiny bit anxious.

"I'm going to make sure she remembers not to come down here again." said Theodore smugly. "My uncle taught me the Cruciatus spell last summer."

There was a hiss from Draco who whispered urgently,

"Are you mad?! We can't use that! It'd be Azkaban for sure!"

"Of course it won't be, she's not going to tell anyone is she? She knows she can't prove anything and even if she can, who the hell is going to listen? Uncle Avery would never let it get as far as the courts, she's completely discredited. Stop being such a pussy Draco, no wonder your dad thinks you're worthless."

Alaw curled into an even tighter ball, her heart hammering uncontrollably against her chest. The Cruciatus Curse? Surely they wouldn't, Theodore had to be bluffing! He was a spoilt posh boy, not a sadistic psychopath. The boys agreed amongst themselves to split up and one wavering light started to venture towards Alaw's hiding place. She had been counting on the darkness to cloak her, they were bound to spot her!

She uttered a tiny cry as the light flashed in her direction and covered her face in her hands.

"No, please!" she whimpered.

But no spell came flying towards her, not immediately, and after a moment Alaw lowered her hands and saw that it was Draco standing there. He was glaring at her.

"You damn fool," he muttered, starting forward and wrenching her out of the hole and onto her feet. "Why did you have to come back down here eh? Why couldn't you just stay away?"

"Draco? You found her yet?" came Theodore's shout.

Draco and Alaw glanced around at the same time and then looked back at each other. They were nose to nose, pressed against the wall once again. Alaw shook her head frantically, her eyes pleading. Draco's mouth twisted as if he had tasted something bitter. Then he shouted,

"No, there's nothing here. I reckon she's long gone."

Alaw's mouth dropped open and she stared at her fellow Slytherin in disbelief. Then she sought and clutched his hand between both of hers.

"Thank you," she whispered tearfully, but Draco yanked his hand free looking disgusted.

"Get off me mudblood, just get out of here and never darken our doorstep again do you hear? Go!"

Alaw turned to do as she was bid, but she froze in place. A spectral figure had just materialised in front of them, and the temperature, already chilly, became bitingly cold. The Bloody Barron was gazing at them both and he raised a bloodstained hand, and beckoned.

' _Alaw Jones, Draco Malfoy, come,'_ he rasped in his death rattle. ' _Follow, a great evil has been done.'_

Alaw shared an uncertain glance with Draco who looked utterly confused. But curiosity seemed to get the better of his and after a moment's hesitation he followed the Barron wordlessly. Not wishing to be left alone with Theodore lurking about, Alaw skipped to catch up. With every step they took the temperature dropped another degree and their breath rose before them as shimmering mist. A feeling of total despair suddenly gripped Alaw and there was ringing in her ears. As they came to a door that was ajar, she grabbed Draco's arm.

"Draco no, I don't like this, let's go! Please!"

"Stop being such a muggle," Draco hissed, but this time he didn't shake off her hands. His face was also a picture of fear.

The Bloody Barron was now pointing silently at the door and the two young wizards edged towards it. Draco pushed it open with his free arm and they both screamed.

A hooded – something – was crouched over the body of a girl and seemed to be sucking something out of her mouth. Upon hearing their scream the spectre rose away from its victim and swooped over their heads, fleeing down the corridor like a shadow made flesh. Draco ran for it down an adjacent corridor but Alaw simply couldn't move from fear and screamed at the top of her lungs. She didn't even know why she was so terrified, all she knew was that the thing had brushed the top of her head as it passed and that made her sick to her stomach.

She sank to the floor, still screaming, with her arms over her head. Then a pair of hands were gripping her shoulders and a voice said,

"Jones! What is going on? Stop screaming girl and speak!"

The cry died in Alaw's throat and she opened her eyes to find Snape crouched over her, his pale visage even paler than usual and his eyes wide, in fear or anger, she couldn't tell. She gestured helplessly towards the room.

"T-there! A monster! It got someone! It was, eating them, I think,"

Snape straightened up, pulling Alaw with him, and he stared into the room. Then he started frogmarching Alaw away so quickly that her feet dragged on the floor.

"Come along, Jones, you're going straight to the Headmaster," he said grimly, but Alaw barely heard him.

She was still looking over his shoulder as the room where the monster's victim lay.

O

The candles which illuminated Dumbledore's office at this late hour sent flickering lights over the snoozing portraits on the walls. Alaw was sitting in a chair before the desk, trying to control the way her chest kept juddering from hiccups and suppressed sobs. The image of the thing looming over that girl, eating her face, was somehow burnt onto the inside of her eyelids. Every time she closed her eyes she could see it and feel the rags it wore slithering over her skin. She shuddered and looked around the room for a way to distract herself.

Snape had deposited her in this chair very firmly before climbing into the upper part of the office to rouse the headmaster. Dumbledore had come sweeping down the curved staircase in an elaborate purple cloak thrown over a snowy white night gown. He had paused very briefly to ascertain that Alaw was not injured before leaving with Snape, promising to return as soon as the dungeons had been secured.

So Alaw had obediently sat, but that had all been an hour ago and despite her anxiety, her arse was starting to go numb. Judging that the headmaster was likely to be busy for some time yet, Alaw got up stiffly and stretched, before starting to walk around the office. She examined the weird clicking instruments but still couldn't work out what any of them were for. She bent over a round device which had a mass of whirring cogs within it, and astrological signs all around the rim. Alaw quickly withdrew her head, coughing, when the device blew a puff of green smoke in her face.

Choosing to ignore the rest of the instruments, Alaw crossed to the window and gazed out at the vast grounds. The sun had not yet made an appearance over the mountain peaks but the sky was beginning to turn that demure grey which preceded the dawn. The windowsill was piled high with snow but it was disturbed in places where birds, probably owls, had landed to roost.

A noise in the office behind her made Alaw jump and turn quickly. It had sounded like a musical note from a flute, but somehow bird-like at the same time. And yet there was no one else in the office beside herself. The noise came again and Alaw gazed towards the upper part of the office. She shouldn't snoop, that was Dumbledore's private sitting area surely. But the keening note sounded insistent and Alaw glanced nervously towards the door before putting a cautious foot on the bottom step.

Her guess had been correct, this raised area was laid out like a living room, with a couple of squashy sofas, coffee tables, a globe and book-shelves lining the walls. And, over by a second window, there was a golden perch on which sat the most beautiful bird Alaw had ever seen. Its scarlet and gold plumage seemed to glow faintly in the dim room and the way it gazed at Alaw gave her a sense of great intelligence.

She realised at once what it was, there was an illustration in her copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,_ but the picture didn't quite capture the magnificence of a living phoenix. Though usually nervous of animals, Alaw ventured slowly towards the bird which cocked its head slightly.

"Hello lovely," she murmured as she stoked the top of its head.

She spent a minute or two petting the phoenix but soon, worried that Dumbledore would return soon, Alaw returned to the office-proper. However, as she came down the stairs she noticed something she hadn't before. Sitting on the top shelf of a bookcase beside the door was the Sorting Hat. It was moving slightly, like it was breathing slowly and deeply in its sleep. Alaw stared at it and suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to shout at it. This was all, in her opinion, its stupid fault. It had known exactly what kind of treatment she would receive in Slytherin, and yet it had put here there anyway, apparently for its own amusement.

Without really thinking about what she was doing, Alaw hurried to the foot of the bookcase and reached up. The Hat was too high though, so she pulled out her wand.

"Accio Sorting Hat!" she said clearly and the Hat toppled off the shelf and into her waiting hand.

When she placed it on her head and sank down onto the bottom step of the curved staircase she heard it speak very irritably.

' _What is the meaning of this? Don't you know what time it is?!'_

' _Yeah, sorry about that,'_ Alaw thought, although she wasn't particularly sorry at all. The Hat stopped grumbling.

' _Ah, the infamous Miss Jones, I had a feeling I would be meeting you again. Slytherin not to your liking then? I did warn you.'_

' _Then why did you put me there?!'_ Alaw thought angrily. ' _It's been hell! I've been beaten half to death because of you!'_

' _Well you were insistent, and you do suit the House so very nicely. Ambitious, cunning, passionate, Salazar Slytherin himself couldn't have asked for a more prestigious bloodline.'_

' _What are you talking about?'_ Alaw snapped. ' _What bloodline? My parents are muggles! My family is as common as you can get according to the Old Families.'_

' _If you say so, but I know Druid blood when I encounter it,'_ said the Hat and Alaw sensed a shrug in its tone.

' _Druid?'_ she repeated, stunned.

' _Yes, its been a long time since I've Sorted anyone of your blood, more than a millennium, and even they weren't from the main branch. I thought you'd all died out by now.'_

Alaw wasn't sure what to say to this but she quickly pushed it aside to think about later.

' _You still shouldn't have put me in Slytherin!'_ she insisted. ' _Do you know what kind of crap I've had to put up with all term? You could have put me anywhere else, anywhere!'_

' _But you did not suit the other Houses,"_ the Hat retorted angrily. ' _You are a Slytherin whether you like it or not.'_

"Well, thanks for nothing then!" Alaw snarled aloud and she yanked the Hat off and tossed it away…right into the waiting lap of Albus Dumbledore.

Alaw yelped and shot to her feet as the Headmaster smiled at her. The brim of the Sorting Hat was so low, that Alaw had not seen him come in, and he must move like a cat for she had not heard him either.

"Sir," she stuttered. "I – I'm sorry, I was just, I just wanted to talk to it."

"Quite understandable," said Dumbledore good-naturedly, gesturing towards the chair before his desk which Alaw retook guiltily. "Though I think you'll have found by now how – ah – particular the Sorting Hat can be."

Alaw scowled and rubbed her arm a little defensively, her gaze fixed on her knees.

"So, it would seem you've had quite bad night so far," said the Headmaster with a heavy sigh and Alaw raised her head slightly.

"The girl," she ventured timidly. "Is she – dead?"

"No," said Dumbledore, though he didn't look particularly relieved. "No she is not dead, though some would say she is as good as. The young woman you unwittingly came across was Penelope Clearwater, one of our Ravenclaw prefects."

Alaw knew Penelope a little, she often pulled Hogsmead watch duty to keep an eye on the first years. It was also rumoured – at least by Fred and George – that Percy had a bit of a soft spot for her.

"And, the monster," Alaw added in an even smaller voice. "Sir, what _was_ that thing?"

"I'm not sure," said Dumbledore gravely. "Although judging by Miss Clearwater's condition I can guess. I hope that I am wrong. Please, Alaw, I need you to describe to me exactly what happened."

Alaw began to recite the story, leaving out the part about being ousted from the Common Room. She told it as though she had been returning from a night out in the village when the Bloody Barron came across herself and Draco. When she came to the part about seeing the monster, Dumbleodre asked her to describe it as accurately as she could.

"It was, cloaked, but it moved like a shadow, or smoke. But I saw that it had really horrible hands, all dead and slimy looking. It was bent over Penelope and sucking something out of her mouth, I thought it was eating her face! Then it heard us scream and it flew over our heads."

"And how did it make you feel? Did you feel, for example, cold and weak?" asked Dumbledore pointedly.

"Yes," Alaw said slowly. "I – I felt terrible, really shivery and frightened, like I'd never be happy again."

"Very well," Dumbledore sighed, his expression telling her that she had just confirmed his worst fear. "What did the creature do then?"

"Flew away, like a bloody great big bat or something. It went down the corridor and vanished. Draco legged it but I couldn't move until Snape found me." Alaw gazed at her Headmaster earnestly. "Sir, please, what was it? And what did it do to Penelope if it didn't kill her?"

Dumbledore gazed at her appraisingly, as though deciding whether or not to trust her. Finally he spoke, very carefully, as if he weighed every word.

"I believe that the creature you saw, was a Dementor. Do you know what Dementors are?"

"Yes," said Alaw, having read briefly about them in one of Charity's books. "They guard the wizard prison. But what's one of them doing here?"

"A very good question, the Ministry purports to have complete control over the entire population which is confined on the island of Azkaban. I have long been opposed to such an alliance, and now it would appear that we have one loose in the castle."

"But what do Dementors do? I thought they were just magical creatures," said Alaw in confusion. Dumbledore's lined face, usually so kind and grandfatherly, turned dark.

"They are among the foulest demons to walk this earth. They feed on human misery, sucking all emotion from a place, leaving only despair. And, though they are no longer authorised to use it unless instructed so by the Ministry, they have a power called the Dementor's Kiss. You witnessed it tonight, it involves drawing out a person's soul through the mouth."

Alaw pressed both her hands to her mouth as she felt bile rise in her throat. For a moment she thought she was going to vomit all over Dumbledore's desk but she beat it back.

"You mean, the Ministry lets them do this?!" she whispered in disgust. "That's sick! It's evil!"

"I agree, and there is no way to restore the soul, not unless it is drawn from the Dementor which took it immediately. To delay even a few minutes is to lose the soul forever. So, as I said, Miss Clearwater is effectively dead."

Alaw felt herself being unable to breath and her hands shook. She had been within feet of that creature, it could have turned at any moment and clamped its vile jaws around her mouth and sucked out her soul. Dumbledore got up quickly and went to a cabinet which he opened to reveal dozens of bottles. He selected one and poured out some of the contents into a glass.

"Here, drink this, I'm sorry Alaw I didn't mean to panic you so," he said gently, pushing the glass into her hands.

Thinking he was offering her alcohol, Alaw swallowed it down without question but encountered not a burning taste, but a smooth, sweet one. At once her limbs stopped shaking and her breathing eased. She wiped her upper lip on her sleeve and put the Calming Draft down on the desk.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"That's quite all right. Most grown wizards can't bear to think of it either. But now I must ask you, what were you doing out so late?"

Alaw blinked and picked up the glass again to give herself something to do.

"I told you sir, I was out in Hogsmead, Wizhard," she said cautiously.

"Yes, I know you told me this. But that was the only part of your story which I detected to be a lie."

Alaw's gaze flickered towards Dumbledore's. Damn, he could tell truth from lie. She'd suspected Snape of having a similar power on multiple occasions. When she didn't answer immediately, Dumbledore bent down and put a hand on her shoulder.

"What is it Alaw? Are you having trouble in the Common Room again? Several of your teachers have reported that you have been looking pale and tired this past week. Professor Lupin in particular has expressed his concern."

Alaw didn't know where the flood of tears came from. Despite the calming draft, she began weeping and she lifted her robes up to stifle herself.

"I – I was thrown out of the common room!" she wailed. "I – don't k – know who did it b – but all my things are s – still there and – and I haven't got anywhere to sleep! I'm s – so tired all the time and I just wanted to be left alone! And the – then, Theodore was chasing me and I was really scared! He said he'd use the Cruciatus curse on me to teach me a l – lesson!"

Dumbledore waited patiently for her finish before rubbing her consolingly on the back.

"Oh Alaw," he said sadly. "Why didn't you tell a teacher at once? You shouldn't have kept it a secret."

"It wouldn't have made any difference!" she cried. "Nothing would happen, just like last time. And I _know_ it was Theodore who chucked me out, but I can't prove it! It's just not fair!"

She growled in frustration, anger over taking her sadness now and she wiped her face dry irritably. She'd been doing far too much crying lately. Dumbledore let her get herself back in order before saying, very firmly,

"We will punish whoever did this and after the holidays we will sort out this mess. But for now, you need to rest. I'll take you to the Hospital Wing where you can have some chocolate and a potion to help you sleep. Then in the morning your things will be collected and you can go home for Christmas."


	13. Chapter 12 - Yuletide in Snowdonia

**Christmas time now, and as always I do not own Harry Potter or any of the things I mention in the chapter.**

 **Toraach - I agree, I always thought the teachers were useless when it came to looking after the students. I suppose Wizards aren't as Health and Safety conscious as Muggles. But no worries, life will get better for Alaw in due course.**

Chapter 12

Yuletide in Snowdonia

The snow sprinkled landscape flit past the windows of the Hogwarts Express but inside the temperature was cosy as the pipes gurgled with hot water. Alaw was curled up on a seat in an empty compartment, gazing through the window with her forehead pressed against the chilly glass. The night in the Hospital Wing had done her a world of good, but she could have done without Professor McGongall personally putting her on the train.

Someone had gone to retrieve her trunk, which thankfully had been already packed, ready to go home. It was now on the luggage rack above her head and Alaw felt much better now that she had a clean set of muggle clothes on. Someone ran past the compartment and then staggered back to peer in through the frosted glass pane. The door slid open to reveal Neville standing there, panting but looking relieved.

"There you are!" he gasped, clutching a stitch in his side. He pulled his head back and hollered down the corridor, "Oi! I found her!"

Thundering footsteps sounded and moment later, Ron and Hermione had hurtled into view. Hermione pressed a hand to her mouth and hurried over to envelope Alaw in a tight hug.

"We heard what happened!" she cried. "Why didn't you tell us?! We could have helped!"

Alaw shrugged but leant against her friend. Ron and Neville went to retrieve their trunks whilst Hermione stayed to guard Alaw. Once they'd returned and put away the luggage, the boys sat down and Hermione allowed Alaw to uncurl herself.

"I should have told you," she said quietly. "But I was scared and stupid. I thought I could sort it out on my own."

"That little bastard is in for a world of pain," said Ron with an ugly scowl. "You wait, me and the boys will sort him out for you!"

"And then you'll get chucked out," said Hermione sharply. "We'll get Theodore properly this time, you'll see. There's evidence now."

Alaw lifted her head to gaze at her best-friend, frowning in puzzlement.

"What evidence?" she asked.

"Well, I've had a thought, so I went to the library to check it out," said Hermione conspiratorially. "I read in _Hogwarts: A History,_ that the school has a pensive. In some cases, you can consent to giving your memories when accusing someone of a crime. It's not done often, people find it too invasive, but –"

"Won't work Hermione," Alaw interrupted firmly. This idea had occurred to her too but it hadn't taken her long to work out a flaw. "Memories can be tampered with. How much do you bet Theodore's top lawyer uncle would find some excuse to discredit my memories? He'll say I'm delusional, or making the memories up because I have a problem with purebloods. Remember that we're commoners to them, and commoners are all attention seeking liars, or criminals. Just look at the crime statistics!"

"That's because we're denied access to higher offices!" Hermione said hotly. "We don't get offered the same opportunities as purebloods!"

"I know that," said Alaw patiently. "Every fool with half a brain knows that. But that's the system for you, it's not weighted in our favour. Memory testimony hasn't been used for years because it's too temperamental."

"Well, a truth potion then! Or Legilimency!" Hermione suggested but Alaw shook her head.

"Both would only tell my side of the story, and the prosecution are quite within their rights to refuse to have the same thing done to their client. That was decided by the International Confederation of Wizards in the eighties, it would be a breach of wizard rights."

Hermione seemed to deflate as she ran out of ideas and Alaw patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll get back at Theodore if it's the last thing I do, even if I have to stoop to his level," she said darkly.

The others looked at her apprehensively.

"What are you going to do?" Neville asked cautiously.

"I don't know, yet, but I'll think of something mark my words."

There was silence in the compartment for some time following this statement. Alaw went back to watching the landscape outside and Ron picked at a button on the seat beside him. Hermione and Neville exchanged worried glances but let the matter drop in favour of another.

"Um, Al," said Neville, in the sort of tone one might adopt when speaking to a wounded animal. "Al, we heard that you were the one who found Penelope Clearwater. That you saw the thing that attacked her."

Alaw didn't answer so Ron took over.

"What was it Al? Why did it kill her?"

"It didn't kill her," said Alaw quietly. "I suppose that's the rumour going round. How did you hear about it?"

"Some Slytherins were talking at breakfast, Dumbledore had just told us about you getting kicked out so we went over there to have it out with them, would have done too, if Snape hadn't barged in and docked twenty points," Ron explained with a scowl. "But we heard them talking. Wasn't Malfoy with you or something?"

"Yeah, and he's probably going to need counselling after what we saw," said Alaw. "Dumbledore said he thinks the creature was Dementor."

All three of them gasped, Hermione's hands went back to her mouth, Neville's face drained of colour and Ron swore loudly.

"A dementor?!" he cried. "That's impossible! They're all kept in Azkaban!"

"Well, apparently not," said Alaw dryly. Neville looked absolutely horrified.

"And there's one floating around the dungeons?!" he asked in a whisper. "One of those monsters is in the castle right now?!"

"Dumbledore told me they were going to spend the holidays searching for it, and that I shouldn't tell anyone what I saw. He doesn't want to panic people," Alaw explained.

Obviously, she was choosing to ignore the last part of her instructions from the headmaster in favour of her friends. She didn't feel any obligation to do as she was told, not after Dumbledore had ignored her problems with the Slytherins for months.

"It'll have a hidy-hole somewhere," said Ron knowledgably. "In the dungeons probably. They like dark, damp and cold."

"You know a lot about them," said Hermione, briefly roused out of her worry at this unprecedented amount of trivia from Ron.

"Every wizarding kids knows about them," Ron shrugged. "You grow up on horror stories from the war, when they were on You-Know-Who's side."

"What a cheery childhood," Alaw muttered under her breath, so that only Hermione could hear her.

They spent the rest of the journey discussing the Dementor. Hermione wanted to know more about them so they were treated to grisly tales by Ron and Neville. Alaw didn't feel like joining in this conversation and didn't eat a thing when the lunch trolley came around. All she wanted to do was go home and make a nest for herself in her bedroom, sleep for the next three days and forget all about the dementor and the Slytherins.

The snow lessened once they passed the border but there was still a fine dusting over the fields as the train chugged towards Crew. When they were a few minutes from the station, Alaw stood up and, with Ron's help, took down her trunk.

"Hang on," she said, opening it and rummaging through the jumble of clothes and books. "Here we go!"

She pulled out three brightly coloured packages. One was red with a pattern of bells which actually tinkled, which she tossed towards Ron. The second was blue with waving snowmen which went to Neville and the third was green and decorated with a sleigh and reindeer zooming all over the paper. She handed this one a little more carefully to Hermione, because it contained a glass case of fancy quills and a bottle of golden ink.

"Oh," said Ron, his ears turning pink as he looked down at the present. "Al, this is so nice! But, I didn't get you anything."

His face was now beetroot red but Alaw smiled at him.

"Never mind, you just have to promise to bring me some of those sweets your mum bakes. You've been raving about them so much I really fancy them."

Ron nodded vigorously but when he went to rip off the paper Alaw slapped his fingers away, tutting scolding.

"Don't be silly! You have to wait until Christmas day idiot," she said bossily.

She staggered a little as the train screeched to a halt alongside the platform. After a hurried hug to all her friends, Alaw jumped down from the train and remained on the platform, waving to them all through the window until the Hogwarts Express had begun to pull out of the station. Once it was out of sight Alaw pulled her hat lower down on her forehead and marched off towards the exit to the muggle world.

It was busy because of all the holiday commuters and Alaw searched the crowd anxiously. Then she saw her mother standing near the ticket barrier, clad in many layers of her grandmother's untidy home knits.

"Mam!" she called and ran towards her.

A wide grin cracked on her mother's face and her hug was bone-crushing when Alaw collided with her.

" _Nadolig Llawen_ pud!" Mrs Jones said and Alaw felt hot tears trickling down her cheeks. This was where she belonged, right here, with people who loved her.

Christmas in the Jones household was a very noisy affair. Alaw had more cousins than she could count and all of them seemed to be coming to stay this year. She'd be sharing her room with two of them but Alaw didn't mind, this was exactly what she needed after weeks and weeks of being snubbed in her own dormitory. Here were people who actually wanted to talk to her, asking her all about life at university. Answering was a little tricky since she had to invent a few muggle lessons just to keep them satisfied.

The Jones family owned an old farm house on the outskirts of tiny village, deep in the mountains of Snowdonia. The road to the nearest town was long and winding, and signal was patchy at the best of times. Like the slopes surrounding Hogwarts, Snowdonia was covered in a blanket of white, and the sheep shivered in their pens as thick flakes swirled down during the day. Alaw woke on Christmas Eve morning to the sound of snowballs thumping against her window. Frowning, she dragged herself out of bed with her duvet draped around her, and navigated her way through the blankets and blow-up mattresses on the floor.

Down in the garden were a group of boys who all waved gleefully when they saw her. Her friends from secondary school.

"Alaw!" hollered one of them. " _Tyrd lawr! Da ni'm mynd i sledio_!"

One of the things Alaw hadn't even realised she missed at Hogwarts was hearing her native tongue. It had always struck her as odd how there were no other welsh speakers at the school, despite it always seeming like a magically inclined language to her. She spent the day tobogganing in the valley with her friends and by the time it was getting dark, she felt like she was frozen from the waist down.

When she returned to the house it was to find that a whole flock of the extended family had already arrived. Alaw had to quickly dodge around a couple of drunken uncles and nearly broke her neck tripping over her eldest cousin's brood who were all playing a fun game called 'roll the baubles under everyone's feet', in order to reach the kitchen.

As always, the dining table was groaning under all the food everyone insisted bringing. They never came close to finishing it, and so the fridge tended to be full until the New Year.

"Mam?" Alaw asked, scooping up a mischievous three year old who was trying to put her finger in the trifle. "Where's dad? I thought we were going to church this evening."

"He's still at work, but he'll be home soon don't worry. Could you keep the littlins away from the food please?" said her mother who was looking a little flustered.

Alaw grinned and, carrying her cousin under her arm like a package, went into the living room where most of the family was congregated. Her fourteen year old brother Osian was perched on an arm of the sofa, trying to ward off the pestering hands of the younger children whilst playing a first person shooter on his play station.

"Al!" he whined. "Get them off me! _Shoo, y taclau_!"

As her mother had said, Mr Jones came home from work soon after but he was to find no peace and quiet under his own roof, not with so many excited children. As they were all different ages they all had their own bedtimes, which made putting them down for the night quite a challenge. Alaw helped the parents carry their offspring to bed and had to be quite stern with them.

"If you don't go to sleep," she said warningly to them, " _Sion Corn_ won't come and you'll get no presents!"

At long last, only the older teenagers and adults were left in the living room, although they could hear the children moving around through the ceiling and eventually Alaw's grandmother, the matriarch of the clan, ascended the stairs to keep guard on the landing. At half past eleven it was time to wrap up warm again and don the wellington boots, before venturing out into the dark night.

Alaw, her father and a few of the more religiously inclined relatives walked down the road into the village, their faces pressed into their scarfs. Alaw was gazing up at the peaks of the mountains, black against the purple star spangled sky.

"Dad," she asked suddenly. "What do you know about our ancestors?"

" _Duw_ , where's this coming from eh?" Mr Jones asked curiously but his daughter merely shrugged.

"Just curious. We've been here for a long time haven't we?"

"Of course, been here since the year dot. That house has been in the family for generations."

"Yeah but, before that, we come from this area don't we? We're Celts right?" Alaw pressed.

"Well," he father laughed. "My memory doesn't stretch that far back _cariad_ , but you never know, we might be."

Alaw hummed to herself thoughtfully and plunged her hands deep into her pockets. If the Sorting Hat was to be believed, her family were once Druids, a long way down the line. But it had said they'd all died out centuries ago, why? She knew the Romans had smashed the Celts in her homeland, but that was no reason for the bloodline to come to an end, how could hers be the only surviving line? Perhaps that was something she should look into in her spare time when she got back to school.

The whole village was sparkling even at this late hour, Christmas trees twinkled through every living room window and the tiny pub on the corner of the main square was full to bursting point. Raucous singing and laughing was pouring out but Alaw and her father passed it by and went on to the church at the end of the street. It too was lit up and more soothing music issued from its open doors.

It was the usual Christmas service, with the usual parishioners and the usual kindly old vicar who stood at the pulpit and told the usual story. But Alaw did not feel her usual cheerful self. Instead of listening to the vicar, she was gazing past her towards the stain-glass window behind the altar. She had never been overly religious, even though her now dead grandfather had been the vicar of this parish for many many years. Before coming to Hogwarts, Alaw had believed in God, certainly, but had never bothered to think about it much.

And when she'd found out she was a witch, she'd barely given God a second thought, she'd been too caught up in the excitement of it all. But now she did think about it, as she sat there shivering in the chilly church. She wondered if magic proved or disproved God. Did it make her evil?

No, Alaw frowned and shook her head slightly, dismissing it at once. Wizards and Witches must have once been just as religious as their muggle counterparts, there was even a chapel at Hogwarts. It had been part of the original building but Alaw had no idea where it was, as no one used it anymore. Wizarding society was secular nowadays, there was no place for religion. This saddened Alaw a little, it was something else which set her apart from her fellows.

The vicar came to the end of her sermon and asked the congregation to pick up their hymn books. Alaw shared hers with her father and as the old organ at the back began to play Silent Night, Alaw looked up at Mr Jones. He was much more devout than she was, and had made sure both she and her brother were baptized and confirmed. But then he had told them both they were old enough to make up their own minds about God, and that had been the first time anyone had spoken to Alaw like a grown up. Perhaps it was possible to be a Christian and also be a witch. The two weren't mutually exclusive, just different aspects of herself.

Alaw sang along with the other villagers and felt a great peacefulness settle on her. She felt more content in that moment than she had in months.

O

Christmas morning was anything but peaceful. Alaw had been fast asleep when someone small and excited had jumped onto her bed and started bouncing up and down.

"Ali!" cried her eldest cousin's youngest child, a boy of four. "ALI ALI ALI ALI! He came! Sion Corn came! _Deffra deffra deffra_!"

There was no sleep to be had after that, all the children were busy bursting into their parents' rooms and demanding them all to wake up too. There was a strict rule in the Jones household that no one was to be up before eight on Christmas morning. This year the children had restrained themselves until quarter to seven, which wasn't bad in Alaw's books. She remembered vividly being given a good talking to when she was eight and had decided half past four was a good time to wake everybody up.

Sion Corn had indeed come down the chimney and deposited a mountain of presents under the tree, which was in danger of falling over because there were so many small people jostling around it. Orders were issued by the parents and all the children were chivvied away from their gifts until after breakfast had been served. Alaw had parked herself in her father's armchair and had taken charge of Rhys, the little boy who had woken her. She kept him on her lap whilst he rummaged through his stocking and cheerfully began blowing a kazoo directly in her ear.

It seemed sporting to allow the youngest to open their presents first so Alaw had to hang back as wrapping paper flew everywhere and squeals of delight filled the living room. It was nearly an hour before the children were done and the adults were able to start passing around their own parcels. Alaw's pile got smaller every year but she still had a modest pile at her feet. Her parents had given her a beautiful green velvet dress, shoes to go with it, and a number of books and DVDs.

She ran upstairs to change into her new outfit and stood before her mirror admiring herself for a few minutes. The colour reminded her of Slytherin House and she made a mentle note to post a picture of herself on the school social network, Mugglenet. It was only used by the muggle-borns during the holidays but it had a lively chatroom for the alumni and was an easy way to pass information along.

Lunch was served soon after this and the whole family crowded around the large oak table in the kitchen, whilst the youngest members had their own in the corner. Alaw stuffed herself with turkey, parsnips, carrots, potatoes roasted in goose fat, pigs in blankets and a large helping of trifle. She could hardly move for the entire afternoon and instead took babysitting duty in the living room, supervising the children as they played whilst sitting slumped in an armchair with her paper hat perched lopsidedly on her head.

Her friends from school called round again at dinner time, knowing that there was always leftovers at the Jones house, and they spent the evening getting happily drunk with the adults. It was nearly one o clock in the morning when Alaw, now with half a pack of after eight's in her belly along with a few glasses of sherry and eggnog, dragged herself up to bed.

When she entered her dark room she had quite a fright, for sitting on the snowy window sill was a ghostly barn own. It gazed at her with its frightening eyes and pecked the window impatiently. It had a brown paper package tied up with sting attacked to its leg. After recovering herself, Alaw crossed to the window and opened it slowly.

"Who's this from then?" she asked the bird, untying the package and placing it on her bedside table.

The owl hooted indignantly as she tried to close the window once more and she stared at it blankly.

"I haven't got any owl treats," she told it and it clicked its beak at her. Alaw sighed and rolled her eyes. "Ok, wait a second."

She ran back downstairs and grabbed a couple of crackers from the kitchen table before returning to her room.

"There," she said, placing the crackers in the owl's beak. "That's all I've got, now bugger off."

The owl seemed satisfied for it ruffled its feathers and glided from the sill into the pitch blank night. Shaking her head, Alaw closed the window firmly on the chill and turned her attention to the package before her. There was a Christmas card attached to it and she opened this first, flopping cross-legged down on the bed. The front of the card showed Hogwarts castle, covered in snow, with ice-skaters gliding back and forth across the frozen lake. Alaw's first thought was that it was from Hermione but when she opened the card she found this to be wrong.

 _Dear Alaw,_

 _This item once belonged to a friend of mine, but many years ago he entrusted it to me. It is my belief that he would have wanted you to have it._

 _Merry Christmas_

Alaw turned the card over to see it there was a name on the back, but there was nothing. Intrigued, she set the card on her bedside table and ripped open the package. Something soft and silvery fell into her lap and partially onto the floor. After standing up and holding it against herself, Alaw found that it was a cloak with a hood, quite beautiful and pleasant to touch. Wondering how it would look with her dress, she quickly threw it around her shoulders and did up the clasp, crossing to her mirror as she did so. It did look nice, as she smiled at her reflection indulgently, before pulling up the hood.

Alaw gasped. The moment the hood covered her head, she had vanished. There was no sign at all of her reflection in the mirror and she looked down at herself in a panic. There was nothing there, she might as well have been a pair of eyeballs floating in mid-air. She shook her head vigorously and the hood fell down. At once she popped back into view.

Alaw ran her hands over the cloak's material once more in wonder. It must be an invisibility cloak, there was no other explanation. But who had sent it?! Invisibility cloaks were incredibly rare and expensive, Alaw couldn't image who would spend that sort of money on her, and then not even tell her their name!

She continued to stare at herself in the mirror for a long time until she heard her cousins coming up to bed and she was forced to take the cloak off and stuff it into her trunk before they saw it. She also put the card out of sight in case they noticed the moving picture on the front. When they came in Alaw started getting ready for bed in a daze. She was itching to tell Hermione all about it and the moment she was tucked under the duvet she pulled out her phone and waited impatiently for it to find the Wi-Fi signal, and then to log onto Mugglenet.

 **Hi lovely readers! What did you think? Please tell all in the reviews.**


	14. Chapter 13 - January Blues

Chapter Thirteen

January Blues 

**Thanks for the review Toraach, the Potter's fate will be revealed in due course and we will hear more about Alaw's Celtic blood. As to the cloak, I just wanted a more elegant way of using it for my story. Please don't forget to Review!**

The whistle on the Hogwarts Express blew three times as it screeched to a halt in Hogsmead Station. After a few moments the conductor stepped down, doors started opening and the tide of students began pouring onto the platform. The train had been making trips back and forth to London all week, bringing the students back in small batches as they tired of their families in their own time. Today was the last day before term started again, and therefore the majority of the Hogwarts residents were returning.

Alaw and Hermione fought their way through the crowd with their trunks trundling along behind them, now much heavier than they had been before the holidays thanks to their Christmas haul. Hermione's was particularly difficult to manage as it was stuffed full of books.

"Let me give yer a hand there," said Hagrid as he loomed up behind them and picked up their trunks as though they weighed no more than a couple of bags of flour.

"Thanks Hagrid," Alaw panted. "How was Christmas?"

"Oh jes a quiet one for me, most people had gone 'ome see? And yerselves?"

"It was wonderful! My parents and I went skiing in France, everything was beautiful," said Hermione.

They passed through the village, swapping holiday anecdotes, but Alaw was really eager to get Hermione alone so she could show her the cloak. They'd only found each other just as the train was pulling into the station so they hadn't had the opportunity yet. Hagrid walked them to the Entrance Hall, where they saw Professor Flitwick directing the dismantling of the Christmas trees, with Filch running around underneath with a large box trying to catch any falling baubles.

Hagrid had just put their trunks down when Snape melted into view. Alaw took an instinctive step backwards, wondering what she could have possibly done to upset him having only just stepped off the train.

"Miss Jones," he said curtly. "The Headmaster has asked me to inform you that new accommodation had been arranged for you on the sixth floor. Your new rooms are on the East-Wing corridor, you'll find your name has been put on the door."

"Thank you sir," said Alaw. Snape's face, as always, was utterly unreadable and he went away without mentioning the Dementor, or the attack in the Common Room.

"What a strange man," Hermione murmured. "He's so cold. But that's great news about the room, that's just around the corner from Gryffindor Tower!"

"Yeah," Alaw sighed unenthusiastically.

It wasn't that she wasn't grateful for her new accommodation, she was, and it would probably improve her social situation immensely. But she still found it galling that she was the one who had to leave the Common Room, when she had done absolutely nothing wrong! She had no proof that Theodore had been the one to throw her out, or that his threat about the Crutiatus curse had been genuine. No, as always, the issue was being brushed aside for convenience sake.

Hagrid helped them carry their trunks all the way up the marble staircase to the sixth floor. Even he was panting by the time they hauled the luggage over the lip of the final step but he declined Alaw's offer of tea, saying he had some Bowtruckles that needed medical attention back at the cabin. Alaw and Hermione set off alone with their trunks and finaly they turned into the East-Wing. This was quiet corridor, with a couple of windows overlooking the lake and a tapestry of a knight slaying a dragon directly opposite the only door. This had a piece of parchment nailed to it which read, _Miss A. Jones_.

"Ok," Alaw sighed, taking out her wand and tapping the handle three times. "Here goes."

Her wand tip glowed, confirming her as the new owner of the room, and Alaw pushed open the door. She was expecting a room similar to the one she had in the dungeons, but what she actually got was much better. Instead of one room, there were several. The door opened into a living room, with a fireplace against the far wall, two green velvet sofas and a matching armchair. Two windows framed the fireplace and when Alaw crossed the antique carpet to peer out of them, she got a view of the Transfiguration courtyard.

"Wow," said Hermione as she came in after her and closed the door. "Alaw, this in lovely!"

"Yeah it is," Alaw murmured thoughtfully as she gazed around and saw that she also had a dining table and a bookshelf, not yet filled.

As nice as the room was, Alaw just couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that it was some sort of bribe. Was this the deal Dumbledore was offering her then? We gave you a nice room, so please don't kick up a fuss? But Hermione was still gazing around with a smile on her face so perhaps Alaw was misinterpreting the situation.

Her bedroom was accessed through a door on the right, and was a little bigger than her one in the dungeons, though the four-poster bed looked exactly like her old one. There was also a bathroom with a claw-footed tub and a mosaic of fish on the ceiling which actually swam about. When they were done exploring, Hermione nudged Alaw excitedly.

"So go on then, let me see it!"

"What? Oh, yeah!" Alaw cried, and she bent over her trunk to pull out the invisibility cloak.

Hermione gasped when she disappeared and sprang forward to examine the material.

"It's definitely an invisibility cloak," she whispered. "The genuine thing! Not just a normal cloak with a disillusionment charm. Oh, Alaw! Who would spend this sort of money?!"

"I don't know, the note just said that the old owner would have wanted me to have it. But why? I don't know anyone in the wizarding world, it's not like some sort of long lost relative or something."

They both started as there was a knock on the door and Ron's voice called,

"Al? You in there? We're here to snoop."

Alaw smiled and lowered the hood so that Hermione could see her put a finger to her lips and then pointed at the door. Hermione nodded in understanding and moved to open the door as Alaw disappeared again. Ron and Neville were standing outside, Ron in an overlarge homeknit with a large R stitched on the front.

"That's nice," said Hermione as she stepped aside to let them in.

"Mum made it, I get a new one every year," Ron said unenthusiastically, gazing around the room and taking a huge bite of a mince pie as he did so.

"Where's Al? We thought she'd be here by now," said Neville.

He was wearing the earmuffs Alaw had bought him for Christmas but her lowered them as Hermione went to light the fire.

"She's just nipped out, incednio!" Hermione said casually.

The logs in the fireplace caught and in no time at all there was a cozy warmth permiating the room. Ron flopped down uninvited on one of the sofas, spilling crumbs on the cushions.

"She a'right?" he asked through his mouthful of pie.

Hermione gave him a disgusted look. Alaw crept up silently behind the red head and then gave him a sharp prod in the back. Ron yelped and jumped off the sofa as if he'd received an electric shock.

"Wot wassat?!" he yelped, now trying not to choke on his food.

Snorting, Alaw threw back her hood and winked back into sight. Ron and Neville gaped at her in shock and Neville pressed a hand to his chest like he was having a heart attack.

"Bloody hell Al," he said faintly. "That was mean!"

But once they'd both gotten over the shock and Ron had succeeded in swallowing his pie, they rushed forward to get a proper look at the cloak. Ron kept swearing under his breath and Neville looked like he'd never seen anything like it. Alaw stood there trying not to look too pleased at all the attention.

"Someone must really like you Al," Neville concluded, now reading the note that had come with the cloak. "I mean, these things cost hundreds, _thousands_ , you don't just give something like that away."

"Well apparently someone has," said Ron, and he started to grin mischievously. "Oh I can't wait until we get Fred and George! It'll make a nice change to make _them_ wet their pants."

"No!" Alaw cried quickly, and all three of them looked at her in surprise.

"Why not? It'll be hilarious!" Ron protested but Alaw shook her head.

"No, I don't want anyone else to know. I don't think students are allowed to have invisibility cloaks and besides," she grinned herself now. "I want to have some fun of my own."

Hermione cottoned on before either of the boys did.

"Theodore? I don't know Alaw, that could get dangerous! Imagine if you're caught, then what will they do to you?"

"How would I get caught? You know me, crazy careful," Alaw replied, her mind already racing.

O

The Slytherin Common Room was back to full capacity on the final Sunday of the holidays, and Theodore and his friends were sitting in their usual seats by the fire. These were the best seats, because in the hierarchy of the house, the Knotts were fairly high in the pecking order due to their association with all the other old families. Draco was sitting in his favourite armchair nursing a hot chocolate broodingly.

Christmas had been an unpleasant affair. As always his parents had hosted a lavish dinner party on Christmas night for all the old family friends, but Draco's mother had spent the whole evening trying to pair him off with Pansy Parkinson. The Parkinson's were a respectable family and it looked like Draco was going to betrothed to their eldest daughter before his time at Hogwarts was out. He wasn't looking forward to it, Pansy was irritating and dull and they had very little in common. Draco had tried to explain this to his mother but she had told him quite firmly that this match had been agreed upon for years and there was no point arguing.

"Marriage is not for happiness, Draco," she told him sternly. "Only the lower classes pair off for trivial reasons like love. You'll love your children, Draco, not your partner."

Well, the first part was certainly true. Draco's parents had never demonstrated any pretence of affection towards each other. As for loving one's children, Draco had only ever felt that from his mother.

"What's the matter Draco? You look like someone spat in your pumpkin juice," said Theodore as he flopped down on the sofa opposite.

"I'm fine," Draco sighed. "Mother is just desperate to have me engaged before we finish Hogwarts."

"Ah, of course," Theodore said, glancing over towards Pansy and her friends who were exchanging holiday tales over by the window. "But you don't have to marry her if you don't want. They won't be debutants until the summer after next, then you can have your pick."

Draco snorted. It was alright for Theodore, his family were allowing him to keep his options open – to a certain extent – whereas Draco's father controlled every single aspect of his son's life. But it was true that the summer before their final year at Hogwarts would be an excellent opportunity to meet new people and forge new connections. It was an entire summer where young witches and wizards would be introduced into aristocratic wizard society properly, beyond their immediate circle of family and friends. An entire summer of garden parties, Quiddich matches and, of course, the debutants ball. And the following summer was typically a whole string of weddings.

A strange sound made Draco look up from his drink and glance around, frowning. He could have sworn he'd heard someone snort, just like him, but there was no one behind him. Deciding that he'd imagined the sound, Draco turned to face Theodore once again and saw that Marcus Flint had joined them.

"So, guess who I saw today," Marcus said smugly, putting his muddy Quiddich boots up on the coffee table.

"Who did you see today?" Theodore asked boredly.

"That mudblood Jones, she'd back. And I hear she's got a new room up on the sixth floor."

"Excellent," Theodore sniggered. "Reckon we should go up there and have a bit of fun?"

"Oh come on," Draco sighed, putting his hot chocolate to one side and fixing his friends with an exasperated stare. "We got her out, can't we just drop it now?"

"She's still walking around like she owns the place!" Marcus protested. "She's still daring to call herself a Slytherin. She was wearing a ghastly jumped with the snake crest you know, we can't allow that sort of thing."

Draco opened his mouth to protest, but then let it go with a tired sigh. He wasn't a fan of Jones, she could be extremely annoying and working beside her in Potions was a ball-ache, watching her fail so badly at every project got on Draco's nerves. But other than that he wasn't really bothered about her. Now that she was gone from the Common Room he expected everyone to just forget about her, the anomaly of her sorting too. But Theodore had decided he had some sort of vendetta against Jones and wasn't about to let her fade into obscurity.

"My uncle showed me this really wicked spell over Christmas," Theodore said excitedly and her leant forward and dropped his voice. "It causes screaming in someone's head. Imagine if we got her as she was sleeping, she'd wet herself!"

"You're uncle has to stop showing you weird spells like that," Draco muttered. "You're going to land yourself in trouble!"

"No I'm not," Theodore snorted. "Look what happened after we got the little bitch out of the Common Room, fuck all! A stern word from Snape about not going over the top and a silly little detention from mudblood lover McGonagall? I'm starting to think you have a thing for Jones, Draco."

"Uch, don't even joke about that sort of thing," Draco shuddered in disgust. "You know they carry all sorts of dodgy infections."

"True," Marcus mused. "Although that it how most of her lot end up isn't it? All their good for really. Aw!"

Marcus jerked forward, rubbing the back of his head vigorously.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked in surprise.

"I don't know, felt like a hex or something," Marcus grumbled, and he got to his feet and raised his voice. "Alright, who threw that? Come on, who hexed me?"

There were cries of denial and a few giggles, mainly from Cameron Boyle and his ilk. There was another mudblood lover, no wonder it was rumoured his family were ready to cut him loose if he didn't pack in all the muggle shite. Whilst Marcus was busy snarling at Cameron and his friends, Draco looked past them and saw the sliding wall open, and then close, without anyone coming or going. He frowned but decided to keep it to himself for the meantime as he was not quite sure what to make of it.

OoOoO

The next day lessons began again and the halls of Hogwarts filled once more with chatter and footfall. The hottest piece of gossip on the corridors was still the fate of Penelope Clearwater. Theories and rumour were flying everywhere, although people had somehow found out that she wasn't dead after all. The most popular idea seemed to be that she had been poisoned and that she was now lying in a comma in St Mungo's. Well, they'd got that part right anyway.

Alaw was quite surprised when she learnt that the Daily Prophet hadn't reported the incident. Even though all the students knew and had undoubtedly told their families by now, there was no official version of events. People also seemed to have found out that Alaw had been one of the people to discover Penelope and she had to endure endless questions as she went about her business. Keeping her promise to Dumbledore, she stuck to a very simply version of the story and left out the Dementor completely.

She wondered if Draco had been similarly grilled but he kept well away from her all day, even though they shared every class. It wasn't until Potions that she had a chance to talk to him. The dungeon was just as freezing as ever and Alaw lost no time in conjuring a fire beneath her cauldron, more efficiently than anyone else in fact. Only Hermione succeeded to lighting her flames as quickly. Draco was having some trouble with his so Alaw flicked her wand towards his end of the work bench.

"Incendio," she murmured and a merrily dancing flame burst into life.

Draco's eyes narrowed and he shot her and annoyed look.

"I can do it myself!" he hissed waspishly.

"Sorry," Alaw replied automatically. Then she glanced around nervously to check that no one was listening. Theodore and Pansy were still busy unpacking their things and didn't seem to have noticed the exchange so far. "Um, I wanted to talk to you, thank you, actually."

Draco looked at her, his grey eyes cold as the Great Lake.

"You're welcome," he said shortly, before turning back to his bag. Alaw frowned and pressed the subject.

"You saved me, Draco, you didn't tell the others where I was. That was – that was good of you."

"Yes well, didn't want you squealing to the teachers that's all," Draco sneered, although there was something about the uncomfortable way that he glanced towards Theodore that made Alaw wonder if that was indeed to whole story.

She had already noted on several occasions, Draco's squeamishness when it came to tormenting people, despite being an excellent dualist. Perhaps he just had an over developed sense of honour. Alaw took out her notebook and quill, and then noticed that Hermione was waving her over. With a nervous glance at Snape – who was still writing up that day's potion on the blackboard – Alaw scooted down the aisle.

"What's up?" she asked quietly and Hermione pulled a book out of her bag. It had a green cover and the title, _Magic in Pre-Roman Britain: Druidic Practises and Lore_ , was embossed in gold on the front.

"Merry Christmas!" Hermione whispered back, pressing the book into Alaw's hands. "I remembered what you said about the Sorting Hat, and thought you might like to do some extra reading. I found it in the second-hand bookshop in Hogsmead."

"Oh, Hermione, thank you!" Alaw said in delight, flipping the book over to scan the blurb. "I forgot all about that! I'll give it a read."

"Settle down," Snape called icily. "Miss Jones, please be so kind as to take your seat."

Alaw hurried back to her workbench and put the book to one side as she took down that days task; brew a Herbicide Potion. It was a fairly straightforward brew, although it did involve a lot of hanging around whilst the various ingredients boiled. All the while Alaw was itching to read her new book and she took the opportunity in the ten minute break needed for her shrivel figs to rehydrate. The paper on the book was crisp, it obviously wasn't very old, and Alaw turned eagerly to the introduction.

 _A Druid (Knower or Finder of the Oak Tree) was the magical class of the Iron Age Celts in Gaul and the British Isles. They were memebers of the educated, professional caste of society and were law-speakers, poets and healers. However, their most notable role was as mediator between the people and their Gods. This was a period when it was believed that magic came from the Gods, although its applications had not yet been fully realised or in any way standardised._

Alaw chewed the end of her thumb absently as she read, glancing at her bowl of figs every now and then to keep an eye on them. She'd barely made it half way down the first page however, when a hand slapped down on the book. Alaw jumped out of her skin and looked up, to find Snape standing there.

"This does not look like Potions work, Miss Jones," he hissed, snatching the book away and snapping it shut. "Let's see, _Magic in Pre-Roman Britain: Druidic Practises and Lore_ , does this look like a History of Magic classroom Miss Jones? Hmm?"

"No sir," Alaw said, her cheeks colouring up as everyone turned to look at her. "I was just waiting for my figs and I – I just, I was just flicking through it."

Her voice got quieter and quieter until she found she was too embarrassed to go on.

"Five points from Slytherin," said Snape smoothly, and the dungeon erupted in protests.

"But sir!" Draco cried indignantly. "Why should we be punished?!"

"Yes, she isn't even one of us really!" Pansy whined. "She's moved out of the common room."

"You mean I was kicked out!" Alaw snapped back, her temper flaring as it so often did in Potions Class. "Don't pretend you don't know exactly what happened and who did it!"

She glared pointedly at Theodore but before a full blown argument could ensue, Snape interrupted.

"That's quite enough. Miss Jones, a further five points from Slytherin. And yes, Mr Malfoy, I am aware that it isn't fair to punish the whole house but that is how the point system works I'm afraid and Miss Jones must be punished."

Alaw seethed and for the rest of the lesson kept huffing and glaring at Snape. Her potion didn't turn out too well because she was so distracted and she would have loved to be the first to dash for the exit when the bell rang, but she hung back instead. If she had bought the book herself, she wouldn't have risked it, but it had been a gift and she held onto her gifts. As the rest of the class left, Alaw strode up to the teacher's desk where Snape was packing up his papers.

"Can I have my book back please?" she asked boldly. Snape raised his dark eyes and fixed her with an unnerving stare. Alaw didn't flinch but gazed imperiously back at him. She had decided over Christmas that she wasn't about to let a mere teacher bully her anymore, she had her rights. After a few seconds Snape dropped the book on the desk.

"Fine," he said dismissively.

Slightly astonished that it had worked, Alaw grabbed the book and turned on her heel to march away. She was at the door when Snape called after her,

"Miss Jones, don't think I condone your banishment from the Common Room."

Unable to believe what she was heard, Alaw turned slowly back to look at her head of house.

"No?" she asked sceptically. "Then why have I been put on the sixth floor? Why hasn't Theodore Knott been expelled?"

"Don't be naïve, Jones," Snape sighed. "The Knott family will never allow their son to be expelled. Dumbledore was unwise to suspend him back in October. Who do you think funds this school?"

"Private donations," Alaw spat in disgust. "You know sir, in the muggle world, the government funds schools. And we threw out aristocratic rule decades ago. Maybe wizards should take heed."

The door slammed behind Alaw as she stalked off, not caring how many points Snape docked. It felt wonderful to finally speak her mind.

OoOoO

As she'd expected, Alaw received detention for her little outburst. She spend most of Tuesday evening scrubbing the Entrance Hall floor under the beady eye of Filch, and had to endure Theodore's sneers when he spotted her. It was only the first week back and things weren't going too well, even though it was nice to be able to sit in her living room with Ron, Hermione and Neville and not worry about stink bombs landing on her head.

Over the next few days, Alaw took a couple of daredevil trips down to the dungeon to spy on her fellow Slytherins. But nothing particularly interesting happened, except that she observed that the common room had become split down the middle, with Cameron and his friends on one side, and the high ranking purebloods on the other. This surprised Alaw, she hadn't thought people would care about her expulsion that much.

By the time Friday arrived, she was utterly fed up and desperately needed a night off. They had their January coursework due in two weeks so it wasn't easy to persuade Hermione to take a break from research and come for a late night jaunt into Hogsmead. Ron and Neville had needed no persuading and Fred and George said they might meet up with the later.

"Thank god this week is over," Alaw called from her bedroom, where she was pulling on the new dress she got for Christmas. "If I had to look at the back of Theodore's head any more, I swear I was going to hex it."

"Still not found anything useful to blackmail him with yet then?" Hermione called back from the next room, a clear note of disapproval in her voice.

"Don't say blackmail, it's such an ugly word," Alaw tutted. "Just think of it as levelling the playing field a bit."

"Call it what you like it's still illegal," Hermione retorted.

Alaw rolled her eyes and fixed the earrings her grandmother had given her in place. They were a little old fashioned but Alaw liked that.

"That's a nice dress," Hermione said admiringly when Alaw stepped out of her room.

"Thanks, now where are the boys?"

"Ron said they'd meet us in the Entrance Hall. And don't try to change the subject! I really want you to stop goading Theodore, it'll end badly."

"Yeah, for him," Alaw said firmly. "Don't worry Hermione, I've learnt my lesson. No more corridor gossip, I need a real scandal with real evidence."

"Alaw, Theodore's small fry, he's just a student like us! If anyone's dodgy, it's his uncles."

Alaw drew up short and gazed at her friend in surprise. That was an almost Slytherin-like deduction. Alaw started to smile to herself, when she cried out in pain.

"What's the matter?! Al?!" Hermione cried in shock.

Alaw's knees buckled as hit hot pain seared through her chest, setting her teeth on edge. She groaned and pressed her hands against her heart like she could squeeze the pain away. It lasted about ten seconds but then, it vanished. Gasping, Alaw let Hermione lower her down on the sofa.

"What was that?!" Hermione asked, looking unnerved.

"I – don't know!" Alaw panted, still rubbing her chest and blinking rapidly. "I've – never felt that before."

But then she realised that was wrong, she had felt a twinge like that before, but much milder. When she and Draco had discovered the Dementor feeding on Penelope Clearwater, her heart had been burning then too. But she'd been so frightened at the time she'd just ignored it.

"Damn that hurt," Alaw muttered.

"Maybe you should go to the Hospital Wing," Hermione suggested. "If you're not well."

"Madam Pomphrey doesn't want to be bothered by a little thing like this," Alaw said dismissively, getting back to her feet. "Its probably just heartburn. I'll grab something or it in the village tomorrow."

"I know heartburn, Al, and it isn't anything like that," Hermione said.

She still looked concerned but Alaw brushed the matter off and led the way to the Entrance Hall. They encountered no one in the corridors but that wasn't surprising with homework deadlines looming. Ron and Neville were waiting for them at the foot of the stairs.

"Where have you two been?" Ron asked impatiently. "Happy Hour ends in fifteen minutes!"

"You both look very nice," said Neville courteously.

"Thank you Neville, and yes, Ron, we're sorry. Alaw had a bit of a mishap that's all," Hermione explained.

"Why? What happened?" Ron asked.

Before Alaw could open her mouth to answer, Professor McGonagall appeared at the top of the steps behind them. She was white in the face, and when she saw them she gave a little gasp.

"What are you four doing out here?!" she demanded, sweeping down towards them. Alaw looked around at her friends in bewilderment.

"We were just about to head into the village Professor," she said, wondering if there was some new curfew she didn't know about.

McGonagall's hawk-like eyes darted around the Entrance Hall and then she began to chivvy them back up the stairs.

"All the students are required to return to their dormitories at once," she said, sweeping them before her and all the while glancing around.

"Why?" Ron asked in disappointment.

"There has been another attack, Mr Weasley. We are currently searching the castle for the creature."

"Oh my god," Alaw cried. "Who?! Who was attacked?"

"Ernie McMillan," McGongall said grimly.

"No!" Neville gasped. He looked shocked, but of course, he and Ernie were good friends.

"You all must stay in your common rooms until the staff have completed their search, Miss Jones, I want you to go to your room and lock the door, alright? I will come and check on you when I visit Gryffindor Tower in an hour or so."


	15. Chapter 14 - Skulduggery

Chapter 14

Skulduggery

Hermione, Ron and Neville insisted on staying with Alaw in her room until McGonagall came to check on them. They were all on edge, Alaw was pacing up and down whilst Hermione was going through every book Alaw owned, trying to distract herself. With so little information to go on, they could hardly discuss the attack for more than five minutes. Alaw couldn't understand why Ernie had been down in the dungeons in the first place. He wasn't a Prefect, he didn't have monitoring duties like Penelope had. It made her shudder to think what the Slytherins must be feeling, trapped down in their Common Room with that horror floating around the twisting passages.

None of them felt like sleeping and when McGonagall did come to knock on Alaw's door she seemed neither disapproving, or surprised, to find all four of them there. She let them stay with Alaw on the condition that none of them left until the castle had been thoroughly searched. Alaw dragged her bedcovers into the living room and they all attempted, unsuccessfully, to kip on the sofas.

By the morning they learned that the creature had, once again, vanished. They were allowed to leave their dormitories – closely supervised – and join the rest of the students in the Great Hall for breakfast. The atmosphere was charged and people kept getting up from their tables and scurrying across the floor to converse with friends and relatives in other houses. The Hufflepuff table, obviously, was the quietest and Alaw glanced over sympathetically towards where Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones were crying on each other's shoulders.

At the Gryffindor table, Nearly Headless Nick was enjoying a great deal of attention from a dozen or so students.

"What's going on?" Neville asked Fred and the red-head hushed them and beckoned them closer.

"Nick has news, he overheard McGonagall and Dumbledore talking earlier this morning," Fred whispered.

Alaw and her friends also leant in, anxious for details.

"Yes," Nick was saying self-importantly, "From what I heard the Headmaster saying, Mister McMillan was found on the second floor, as he was on his way to the library it would seem. It was his friends who found him and they alerted a member of staff at once."

Hermione and Alaw shared an alarmed glance as the other students clamoured to hear more.

"The second floor?" Hermione muttered under her breath. "That means that thing is leaving the dungeons to go hunting!"

"God, gives me the shivers just thinking about it," Ron said, clearly unnerved. "I can't believe the teachers haven't found it yet! They've had weeks!"

"The dungeons are like a labyrinth, Ron," Alaw reminded him. "I doubt anyone knows their exact layout, doesn't help that half the corridors don't exist most of the time! That thing could be anywhere."

"Well then they should be protecting us!" Hermione said indignantly. "Put extra patrols on the corridors or something, and there still hasn't been anything in the newspapers!"

Alaw too found the silence from the press highly unusual. She understood that Dumbledore wanted to preserve the reputation of the school, but to go as far as to stifle the news seemed a bit excessive. For the rest of the day the entire school remained on edge. As it was a Saturday most people locked themselves in their common rooms again, or else, fled to the village in tight knit groups. Alaw took the second course of action and hunkered down in Warlock's Nook with a group of Gryffindor's. Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones joined them for tea in the afternoon and informed them that Ernie had been moved to St Mungo's to join Penelope Clearwater.

"We asked Professor Sprout if we could visit him, but she said he's on a quarantined ward," Hannah said miserably. "So that must mean whatever attacked him and made him like this, has some sort of contagious disease!"

 _Yeah, that, or they don't want you to see the effects of a Dementor_ , Alaw thought to herself. Susan sniffed quietly.

"Professor Sprout had to write to Ernie's parents this morning, they're going to be heartbroken," she said and Lavender Brown patted her on the back.

"Hey, don't talk like he's dead, they'll probably find a cure and he'll be back soon!" she said encouragingly.

Alaw, Hermione, Ron and Neville looked away guiltily. Alaw felt awful, because Ron had told them all there was no cure for the Dementor's Kiss, not unless the creature responsible was found and the soul extracted in time, and it was far too late for that. She wondered if the McMillan's had been told the truth about their son, what was the wizarding stance of coma patients? Was there a plug to pull if the family so wished? She doubted very much that the Clearwater's had been given the same curtesy, they were muggles after all.

The sound of the bell over the door tinkling drew Alaw's eye. Blaise Zabini, one of her fellow Slytherins had just hurried in. Blaise was tall, dark and handsome, a favourite amongst the girls and also one of Draco's best friends. When he looked around the café and spotted Alaw nestled amongst the gang of Gryffindor's he came over.

"Jones, the Headmaster wants to see you," he informed her coolly. "He's already got Draco up in his office so you'd better hurry up."

"Ok, thanks Blaise," Alaw said, extracting herself with some difficulty from the mass of Gryffindor's.

Blaise wrinkled his nose at her in vague distain but made no offensive comment. He had never been particularly confrontational like Theodore, Crabbe and Goyle, though Alaw suspected this was due to his overwhelming arrogance. He simply didn't care enough to argue with anyone.

"What do you think Dumbledore wants?" Hermione asked anxiously as Alaw wrapped a scarf around her neck and yanked on her gloves.

"I think he wants to talk about the Dementor again," Alaw whispered. "I'll see you later at dinner."

Outside it was sleeting and Alaw sloshed her way towards the castle at top speed. By the time she reached the Entrance Hall she was drenched and shivering from the waist down and she took a moment to stamp her feet on the flagstones before mounting the grand staircase. Charity was pacing up and down in front of the Gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office and she sighed when Alaw came into view.

"Alaw, thank goodness, I was starting to worry. Blaise found you then?" Charity asked.

"Yes," Alaw panted. "I was in the village I came as quickly as I could. Is something wrong?"

"There are Ministry officials up there, I think they're from the Auror office. They wanted to take statements from you and Mr Malfoy."

Alaw wasn't particularly surprised – not as much as she was when she found out the new password was 'Jelly Babies' – but she was nervous. She and Charity took the stairs three at a time and the door at the top was opened for them before they could even knock. Alaw was seriously getting sick of seeing the inside of this office. Today, there were once again several very serious looking adults gathered around the desk. Dumbledore of course, Snape, Draco and two other men whom Alaw presumed were from the Ministry. One was barely taller than Alaw, portly, and wore a pinstriped set of robes and a lime green bowler hat. He looked frankly ridiculous. The other was older, taller, and had a mane of gristle grey hair. Neither of them looked particularly pleased with the situation.

"Ah, thank Professor Burbage for locating Miss Jones. Please sit down Alaw," Dumbledore said mildly, indicating the chair beside Draco's.

Alaw did as she was told and he glanced questioningly at Draco, who shrugged slightly. Once Alaw was seated, Dumbledore indicated the portly owner of the green bowler hat.

"May I present Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic."

"How do you do," Fudge said, though he didn't really look at either of the students. Alaw had started at the mention of his name. This was rather like being presented to the Prime Minister.

"And, Rufus Scrimgeour, head of the Auror Office."

Scrimgeour inclined his head but made no polite greeting.

"These two gentlemen would like to interview the two of you about the events shortly before Christmas. Please tell them all that you know, as it will help them in their investigation," Dumbledore said gravely and Alaw couldn't stop herself from sniffing contemptuously.

So, the headmaster had finally given in and called the authorities. Apparently Rufus Scrimgeour thought her snort was because of them and he scowled sternly at her.

"It's no laughing matter young woman," he said coldly. "Two people have already been attacked, so I'd like you to take this a little more seriously please."

Alaw felt her cheeks go pink and she nodded silently, now gazing resolutely at her feet. The Minister for Magic began the interview.

"Now then, Draco, you're a sensible lad," he said indulgently. "I'll be sure to inform your father how helpful you've been. Why don't you tell us what you saw before Christmas?"

Draco began to tell the story in a monotone voice that made him sound almost bored. Alaw turned her head slightly to frown at him. His face was utterly expressionless. _Maybe it's a coping technique,_ Alaw thought. What they had seen had been horrible and she was certainly still having nightmares about it, so perhaps blocking his emotions was Draco's way of handling the situation. His version of events was truthful enough, though he left out the part about Theodore, Marcus and himself chasing Alaw before it all kicked off. When he finished, Scrimgeour turned his yellow eyes on Alaw.

"You say the Bloody Baron came and told you about the Dementor?" he asked slowly. "Hmm, we'll be needing to speak to him."

"The Barron does not usually speak to the living," Snape cut in, speaking for the first time since Alaw arrived. "He only ever communicates with those whom he believes are worthy Slytherins."

Despite the situation, Alaw felt a small bubble of pride blossom in her chest and it must have shown on her face because Draco glanced at her and smiled in an amused sort of way.

"Well then, will you try and speak to him Professor Snape? I would like to know exactly how he knew what was going on," Fudge said, though it seemed like Scrimgeour was the one who actually needed to know. He turned to look directly at Draco and Alaw. "Now then you two, I expect you realise how serious the situation is. If the public found out that a Dementor was loose at Hogwarts, there would be mass panic! Now we don't want that, it wouldn't help anyone in the slightest. You both need to keep this to yourselves and not tell anyone else. Draco, I know I can count on you, the Malfoy's have always been good friends of the Ministry."

This time Alaw couldn't help herself. She choked a laugh and looked at Fudge in amused disbelief. It was his turn to look at Alaw irritably.

"Do you have something to say Miss Jones?" he asked and Alaw wondered whether or not she should say what was going through her head. She was nervous, having all these important people staring at her, but she was also bursting to call Fudge out. In the end she simply said,

"No sir, you just remind me of the politicians we have in the Muggle world."

Fudge looked like he wasn't sure if he had just been insulted and he squinted at Alaw uncertainly.

"You'll be a half-blood then?" he said and Alaw raised her eyebrows at him. She suddenly felt that she was the more intelligent of the two.

"No," she said coolly. "I'm muggleborn."

"Oh," Fudge said shortly, and a look of dawning comprehension came across his face. "Yes, you're that muggleborn that the Sorting Hat put in Slytherin. I've had a lot of owls concerning you missy."

"Now _that_ I don't doubt," Alaw answered bitingly, readying herself for an argument which she felt sure she could win. However, before anything could start, Snape stepped in again.

"Minister, that is an issue for another day I think. Weren't we discussing the Dementor?"

"Yes," said Fudge quickly, eyeing Alaw with dislike. "Yes of course Professor. Well, so long as these two understand the situation, I think they can go. There are members of the Auror office waiting downstairs to take your written statements."

Alaw and Draco were dismissed, and Charity escorted them back down the spiral staircase to a classroom where two more Auror's in maroon robes were waiting. As they sat down and were offered quills and parchment, Alaw saw Draco chuckling quietly to himself. When they were finally allowed to leave, the pair of them walked together to the Grand Staircase.

"What's so funny?" Alaw asked, because Draco was still smiling.

"The look of Fudge's face," he replied. "You know, you have more Slytherin in you than the other's give you credit for. Even if you are from lower class stock."

"Oh cheers," Alaw said, rolling her eyes. "So you genuinely believe that I'm less intelligent, less magically powerful, just because my parents are muggles?"

They had reached the stairs and they both paused on the landing, Draco gazing at Alaw in a nonplussed sort of way.

"Well, yes," he said. "Don't take it personally, it's just the way it is. I suppose you can't help what you're born."

"Wow, you're a real charmer. You wait, I am going to prove to you what a load of old bollocks this purist crap is. Muggle's aren't stupider than wizards! Just look what muggle's have accomplished without magic!"

"Yes good luck with that," Draco sighed, turning his back and walking down the stairs. "And don't come wandering around in the dungeons again, Theodore is still out for your blood you know."

O

O

O

Hogwarts school had always had a reputation for breeding wild rumours, and the case of the mysterious monster lurking in the dungeons was the only thing people talked about for the rest of January. The most popular theory was that it was some sort of ghost or demon, one which put its victims into a deep sleep in order to keep them fresh and eat later. Only Alaw and her friends knew the truth and they were scared witless half the time.

No one went anywhere alone anymore and it didn't take long for the teachers to introduce a curfew, for the first time since the War according to Nearly Headless Nick. From now on, everyone was expected to be in their common rooms by nine of clock and anyone wishing to leave the castle at night had to find accommodation in the village until morning. It made Alaw claustrophobic, all the tension and fear in the castle, so she and her friends often visited Hagrid at the weekends just to be free of the castle.

Some of the wonder had gone out of their lessons now. Though still fascinating, Alaw simply didn't find learning magic as joyful as she had at the beginning of the year. She was beginning to feel increasingly edgy and worried all the time. At night, she dreamt of flashing green lights and dark shadow's moving in the corner of her eye.

Her dreams were often accompanied by painful twinges in her chest and difficulty breathing. She hadn't told anyone about this, not wanting to worry her friends, but Neville eventually caught her out and told Hermione, who bullied her into going to the hospital wing.

"I'm telling you, it's just heart burn or something!" Alaw complained as she sat on the edge of a bed and Hermione stood by, her arms folded and a stern expression on her face.

Madam Pomphrey gave Alaw a potion to help with the pain and strict instructions to come back if things did not improve. Piercing January winds howled past the castle windows as the girls walked out of the hospital wing and headed towards Charms, their next lesson. Hermione was oddly quiet, and Alaw could tell from the expression on her face that she was following her own train of thought.

"Tell me about these dreams you've been having?" Hermione asked suddenly. Alaw frowned at her in surprise.

"Why?" she asked and Hermone shrugged.

"Well, I've been wondering. That book I gave you says the Druids were great prophets, maybe you're dreams are more than what they seem."

"Yeah," Alaw laughed. "And the book also says we were brilliant shape shifters too! But you don't see me becoming an Animagus do you?"

But Hermione had a shrewd look in her eye which made Alaw suspect her friend had an idea. Alaw gave in with a sigh and recounted her dreams.

"They're always the same. There's a flash of green light, and someone laughing in my head."

"Who? Do you recognise the voice?" Hermione pressed but Alaw shook her head.

"No, I think it's a bloke but it's a really high voiced bloke. And sometimes, I can see shapes, I think it's a person, but most of the time I just feel trapped in a box."

Hermione hummed to herself thoughtfully but Alaw couldn't tell what was so intriguing about some weird dreams. They had reached the Charms classroom just as the bell was ringing and the pair of them sat down quickly.

"Right chaps, you've pretty much mastered basic fire charms, so today I thought we'd try Illusionary Magic," Professor Flitwick began once everyone was settled. "This branch of Charms is linked with Light spells, and can be useful in all kinds of situations, from combat to entertainment. So, I'd like you to watch me please…"

Flitwick waved his wand and a stream of red sparks flew out of the tip. Instead of dissipating like sparks usually did, they swirled around Flitwick's head and he waved his wand, and formed the shape of a bird. The eagle shrieked as it became solid and so life-like, that Alaw couldn't tell that it was an illusion. The students ducked as the bird swooped over their heads, hit the back wall and exploded in a shower of sparks.

"As you can see," said Flitwick. "A skilled Charmer can create an illusion so realistic, that none but the most accomplished wizards can tell the difference!"

Charms was still Alaw's best subject. She found it easy to practise because it was so much fun, and she mastered basic Illusion in just two weeks. By the beginning of February, she had managed to frighten Gregory Goyle to death by sending an Illusion of Peeves into the boys' toilets on the third floor whilst he was using them. By adding Peeve's high pitched cackle to her spell, she sent Goyle sprinting down the corridor, cursing and trying to do up his flies at the same time.

Apart from this, Alaw was still searching for a way to get back at Theodore. She wanted something she could hold over his head, something that would keep awake at night. Being of a slightly nervous disposition, Alaw hadn't taken more than a couple of jaunts into the Slytherin common room under her cloak since Christmas. When she had, all she'd seen were the normal common room activities. It made her sad to see her fellow Slytherins working, chatting and playing cards in the evenings. She should have been there doing the same things, but because of Theodore she wasn't.

During the last week on January she was forced to go back down to the dungeons in search of a book. Marcus Flint was up to his old tricks and had taken the only remaining copy of _Achievements in Charming_ out of the library, when Alaw knew perfectly well that he had his own copy. It had been a while since she'd ventured out into the castle alone, but being under the cloak gave her a sense of security. However, she didn't enjoy standing out in the corridor, waiting for someone to open the Common Room wall. She wished she knew the password, but she'd been away for too long.

Eventually, Milicent Bulstrode was the one to do the honours and unknowingly let Alaw in. It was more crowded than usual in the Common Room, because of the new curfew and the fact that no one wanted to be out and about much anymore. Alaw kept close to the wall to avoid being walked into and scanned the place quickly. Marcus was sitting with his friends in their usual spot and after squinting, Alaw saw that he had his bag slung over the back of his chair. Hardly daring to breath, Alaw edged over to them and tried to see if the book was in the bag without touching it.

"Will you be trying out for the Quiddich team again next year, Draco?" Marcus asked. "Shame you didn't get in last term."

Alaw glanced up briefly to see Draco shrug and not lift his gaze from the chess board before him. From the looks of things, he was beating Pansy Parkinson quite soundly.

"Maybe," Draco said, though he didn't sound very enthusiastic. "Father wants me to so I probably will."

"Can't believe you still do what you're father wants," Flint snorted. "You're eighteen for Merlin's sake!"

"Oh, like you don't still do exactly what your parents expect?" Draco shot back scathingly, whilst also plucking Pansy's last remaining knight away.

Alaw bent over and awkwardly lifted the satchel's flap. Ha! She knew it, there was the corner of the book poking out. She was just easing it free what Theodore Knott appeared unexpectedly behind her. Alaw had to dive onto the floor to avoid being touched as Theodore jumped over the back of the sofa.

"Hey, guess what?" he said smugly. "I just got a letter from my uncle, you won't believe what's been going on in the Wizengamot, he – " He paused and looked pointedly at Pansy. "Pansy darling, do you mind giving us a minute? Ministry talk and all that."

Pansy huffed as she got up and flounced away to join her friends over by the window. That certainly wasn't how Alaw would have reacted to being spoken to like that, and she pulled herself up to listen suspiciously to Theodore's big Ministry news. Theodore waited to make sure Pansy was out of earshot, before beginning in a lower tone.

"Don't tell anyone, this is all very cloak and dagger, but listen to what Uncle Avery has to say,"

He withdrew a piece of parchment from inside his robes and, after clearing his throat unnecessarily, began to read.

" _Dear Theodore, I am writing to tell you of a highly lucrative business transaction I made this past week with Monsieur Bonaparte from the office of Nicolas Malecrit_."

Alaw thought she recognised that last name but it took her a few seconds to remember that he was the French Minister for Magic, and in the time it took her to work this out she missed a few of Theodore's words.

"… _and he approached me a few weeks ago to ask for my opinion on the upcoming vote. For the healthy sum of 500 galleons, I was able to assure him that the bill will go through. The advancement of Goring and Sons Ltd. will benefit both nations and many of those who will be voting in the Wizengamot have vested interests. I have also advised your mother to buy stocks in the company whilst they are cheap, for they will surely rocket in price once the decision is announced tomorrow. Keep an eye on the Daily Prophet._ "

"Well, that sounds fascinating," Draco drawled sarcastically. "I don't know how you can stand to dabble in politics."

"That's where the money is Draco, your father will expect you to take an interest too you know," Theodore warned, rolling up the letter and putting it aside on the table.

Alaw's eyes followed it closely. She hadn't quite understood the details of the letter, but she'd heard enough to know something very dodgy was going on in London and Paris. It sounded very much like Avery was selling Wizengamot secrets to his friends in the French government. She had to get that letter!

"Malfoy's don't run for office," Draco sniffed. "We prefer to take the back seat. But father had funded several campaigns, Fudge's for one."

"Exactly, everyone knows the campaign with the most money always wins. You should start forging connections now Draco or you'll be left behind," Flint chipped in.

"That's what next year's debutante season is for!" Draco protested.

Alaw licked her lips and reached for the letter, her eyes flickering back and forth between it and Theodore who was smirking at his friends. The clock on the mantel piece struck twelve and Alaw supressed a curse as Theodore picked up the letter once more. He stood and stretched lazily.

"I suppose I should go to bed," he yawned. "Defence Against the Dark Arts tomorrow and I want to be well rested so I can curse Jones into a pulp again."

Smiling nastily, he bid his friends goodnight and sauntered off to his room. Alaw followed in his wake and watched carefully as he dropped the letter on his desk before the door swung shut in her face.

O

When Alaw hurried into the Great Hall the following morning, she barely noticed the usual sneers from Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode. She made straight for where Ron, Hermione and Neville was sitting and only offered them a distracted greeting when she sat down.

"Hey, is that today's paper?" she asked, glaring at the Daily Prophet Hermione was reading.

"Um, yes?" Hermione replied, bemused.

"Great," Alaw muttered, taking the paper from her and riffling through the pages. "I just need to check something, I'll be quick."

The other's watched her in surprise and Alaw's eyes scanned each page until she found what she was looking for.

"Ha! I knew it! That's corrupt little scumbag!" she hissed, jabbing her finger at a small article on page five. The piece was barely two inches long but was accompanied by a picture of Fudge and another wizard shaking hands over a signed document. Ron lent across to frown at the article Alaw was glaring at so triumphantly.

"The Wizengamot signed some deal with a French company to sell something here, so what?" he asked.

"I have something big, _really_ big, but please don't get angry when I tell you," Alaw began but Hermione groaned and put her head in her hands.

"Oh, Alaw!" she hissed. "You went down to the dungeons again didn't you?! I told you not to go down there alone anymore! There's a –" Hermione paused and glanced around before dropping her voice to the barest whisper. "There's a Dementor floating around down there."

"I was fine," Alaw said dismissively. "But just listen to what I overheard Theodore say!"

She filled them in on all that she had heard. Hermione looked suitably shocked at the news but struggled to maintain an air of disapproval throughout. Neville too scowled at the underhandedness of the transaction, but Ron's face remained blank.

"Am I missing something?" he asked when Alaw finished by crossing her arms. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal?!" Alaw asked incredulously. "Ron, he sold Wizengamot secrets! I told this French mate of his which way the wind was blowing before the vote went through. That's insider trading, and it's really, _really_ illegal!"

"Oh," Ron said, comprehension finally dawning. "Wow, you finally have something to use against him!"

"Wait just a moment," Hermione snapped in her most bossy voice. Alaw and the boys looked at her dubiously, readying themselves for a telling off. "This is serious. I didn't like it before, when you were taunting the Slytherins with silly gossip, but this is different. If you use that against Theodore or his uncles, that is blackmail, and you'll be in serious trouble! The right thing to do, is inform the Law Enforcement Squad, straight away."

Ron snorted whilst Alaw made a disgruntled noise in the back of her throat.

"Yeah, ok, let's just do that," Ron said sarcastically. "Then let's sit back whilst Avery walks because he's got mates in the Squad. Alaw," he turned away from Hermione who looked affronted. "What you need to do mate, is tell one of his rivals in the Wizengamot! There'll be people there who won't be very happy he made a shed load off this deal."

"Woah, slow down Ron," Neville muttered. "Al can't do anything without concrete proof! Otherwise she's just a muggleborn with a grudge."

"Oh I can get proof!" Alaw said firmly. "If I can get that letter!"

"But blackmail is illegal!" Hermione agonised. "You'll be fined! Or worse, thrown in jail!"

"We'll work out the details later," Alaw countered. "Right now, I have to get that letter."

Alaw could feel the disapproval coming off Hermione in waves all day. She refused to join her discussion with Ron and Neville about the best way to wrest the letter from Theodore. Alaw wasn't stupid, she knew what she was doing was risky, but she had never hated someone more than she hated Theodore Knott and she was prepared to do almost anything to cut him down to size. After spending the morning in the library with a stony Hermione and an excited Neville – Ron had skipped homework to go and play Quiddich with the twins – Alaw made her way to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

The classroom was dark when she arrived, because of the grey clouds and the pounding rain beyond the windows. As they were the first one's there, Alaw took out her wand and lit the torches to give them some light and warmth. Ron, Seamus and Dean were the last ones to troop in before the bell rang and they all looked soaked to the skin.

"I told you it'd chuck it down!" Alaw told them exasperatedly. "Hold still."

She performed a complicated wiggle with her wand and hot air began to flow from the tip. She left the wand on her desk pointing in Ron's general direction and he grinned at her. Hermione stared at the wand and then, apparently forgetting her vow of silence, asked,

"How did you do that? We haven't done it in class have we?"

"No, but it's in the text book, I think we were going to do it later this year," Alaw explained. "And I'm blood freezing at night so I looked it over. It's not so different from Fire Charms, so long as you don't accidentally set fire to the curtains."

That day's lesson was a practical one, in which several pairs of students at a time duelled, whilst the rest of the class watched, waiting their turn. If it had been Professor Lupin taking this class then Alaw would never have dared do what she was planning. But fortunately, it was Professor Quirrel with them and he was too focussed on stopping the Gryffindors and Slytherins killing each other, to keep an eye on the watching crowd.

Alaw placed herself deliberately behind Theodore, where she could see his wand sticking out of his back pocket. She thought it would be a bit obvious if she just leant forward and grabbed it, so she needed a diversion. For this she had recruited Neville and Ron, who were currently battling Marcus Flint and Millicent Bulstrode respectively. Neville was having a bad time of it, more so than usual because he was waiting for Alaw's signal and wasn't really paying attention to the duel. Alaw didn't wait long to cough three times. Neville nodded slightly and then, flourishing his wand in a haphazard way, he shouted,

" _Rictusempra_!"

The hex sailed past Millicent, as Neville and Alaw had planned it, and hit Theodore full in the chest. The force of the spell knocked Theodore backward off his chair and into the row of desks behind him. In all the confusion, Alaw managed to tug his wand free and stow it inside her robes.

"Get off me mudblood!" Theodore snarled as she struggled to untangle herself from the mass of limbs and chair legs.

"Oi!" Seamus snarled, shoving Theodore away and helping Alaw to her feet. "Shut you're gob Knott!"

"Yeah leave her alone!" Lavender Brown cried shrilly.

It took a few minutes for Professor Quirrel to break up the argument and all the while, Alaw melted away into the background feeling especially smug. Luckily for Quirrel, the bell rang to signal the end of the lesson not long after the incident. Alaw hung about in the corridor with Ron and Neville, waiting to see where Theodore was off to. He and his gang members headed off in the direction of the library and, judging by their complaints about the amount of homework they had to do, Alaw judged they'd be there for some time.

"Ok," she muttered, chewing her lip. "You two go and keep an eye on them, I'll be quick as a flash."

"Good luck," Neville called as Alaw walked quickly down the corridor on her way to the dungeons.

Getting inside was easy now that she knew the password and with the cloak back on, she went completely unnoticed. There were very few people in the common room at this time of the day anyway, so Alaw crept unimpeded towards Theodore's bedroom. Withdrawing his wand, she tapped the door knob and whispered,

" _Alohomora_."

She was worried that the door would recognise that she wasn't Theodore, but apparently using his wand was enough because the lock clicked and Alaw was able to slip inside. This room wasn't any different in layout or size to her own, the bed was even in the same place. But the walls carried different decoration, Quidditch posters, photographs and cuttings from the Daily Prophet – again, mostly articles about Quidditch. The desk was cluttered and Alaw gazed at it, not wanting to step further into the room and disturb anything. The letter wasn't in her line of sight so she raised Theodore's wand and whispered,

" _Accio Letter!"_

Had she been a less accomplished caster, this spell would have brought every letter in the room flying towards her. But she had practised this charm until she'd perfected it and now she could summon just about anything if she'd seen it before and could keep it focused in her mind. One of the desk draws rattled as something tried to get out and Alaw edged towards it and slid it open. The letter shot out and into her waiting hand. Alaw grinned triumphantly.


	16. Chapter 15 - Unicorn Blood

Chapter Fifteen

Unicorn Blood

 **Toraach – Thanks for your review as always. I put Flint in Alaw's year simply to have more first years to write about. I tried to imagine how canon Hermione would have reacted to a plan like that and I'm glad you approve.**

 **.rain21 – Thank you to you too, please spread the word!**

For the next few days, Alaw went about her lessons with an air of supreme smugness. This confused her Slytherin rivals, who weren't used to her smiling mysteriously at them when they teased her. Theodore was very quiet since he had discovered the loss of his letter and Alaw had gleefully noted that he and his friends were arguing a lot more recently. It wasn't until the week-end that the full gravity of the situation crashed down on him and he was not at all pleased.

Alaw was dozing in her bed on Saturday morning when an almighty banging started on her door. Blinking in the bright winter sunlight streaming in from the window, Alaw dragged herself out of bed, threw on her dressing gown and went to answer the door.

"Well, good morning Theodore," Alaw said delightedly.

Theodore Knott looked beside himself with rage. Alaw lent against her door frame and crossed her arms, smiling pleasantly.

"You sneaking little piece of filth!" Theodore hissed at her, brandishing a scrunched up letter. "Know what this is?!"

"I haven't the faintest clue," Alaw said, shrugging. Theodore's whole face was beetroot red and Alaw suddenly wished the camera on her phone worked at Hogwarts, to capture this moment for posterity.

"This is a letter from my uncle. He wants to know how the Daily Prophet found out about his deal with the French Under-Secretary! He wants to know if I've been speaking to anyone."

"Oh yes, I think I read about that deal in the Prophet yesterday evening," Alaw grinned. "Very dodgy wasn't it? The things some politicians do eh? Shocking."

"Don't think you can play with me mudblood, I know it was you who stole that letter! You're going to pay for this Jones."

"I have no idea what you're talking about Theodore. But, if I did, then I wouldn't think your dear uncle would be too happy with you if he found out you got outsmarted by a low-born _girl._ "

Theodore mouthed at her and took a step forward as though he were about to attack her. Alaw remained where she was and laughed when Theodore bounced off the protective shield around her door. It had been a precaution on McGonagall's part, to bar certain people from entering Alaw's room and she was immensely grateful.

"You're so full of shit Jones!" Thedore snarled, picking himself up and rubbing his forehead where it had smacked against the shield.

"Yeah, whatever," Alaw yawned. "Now then, listen carefully. I of course am innocent in all this, now being banned from the Slytherin Common Room. But, if I had stolen the letter I would have held onto it, and made copies by the way. If I did have it, then I could easily send it to the Daily Prophet as proof of your uncle's corruption. At the moment all they have is a rumour, but imagine what your uncle's rivals in the Wizengamot would do with proof. Isn't your dad already in Azkaban for fraud? They'll start to think it runs in the family."

There was silence in the corridor for some time. Whilst Theodore breathed heavily and tried to work out what to do, Alaw waited calmly, listening to the twittering of birds outside the mullion windows. Eventually, Theodore growled quietly,

"So what do you want?"

"To be left alone. No more jinxes in the corridors, no more of this mudblood crap, no more pissing about in class. I just want to get on with my life in peace."

Theodore glared at her for a while longer and then, with what seemed to be a huge effort, he nodded.

"Fine, we'll leave you alone for now. But you just wait Jones, one day you'll regret this."

"Great, I look forward to it, bye!" Alaw crowed and slammed the door in his face.

She turned back to her room, grinning from ear to ear and rocking on the balls of her feet.

OoOoO

Hogwarts School was in a state of twitterpation. Everywhere Alaw looked there seemed to be couples walking hand in hand down the corridors, giggling together in alcoves, and feeding each other croissants in the Great Hall at breakfast. Neither Alaw, Ron, Hermione nor Neville had a date for Valentine's Day, but none of them cared too much. Alaw was desperate to get out of the castle and spend the night in Hogsmead, but the curfew was still in place, as the Dementor had not yet been caught. The teacher's, oblivious to the spring fever in their students, were still edgy and worried and wouldn't let anyone wonder around the castle one night fell.

However, some students had taken to ignoring the precautions and heading out into the village anyway. The smarter ones would book a room in the Three Broomsticks and wait until morning before returning to school, but Alaw knew several people had been caught by Filch as they tried to sneak in at three in the morning. Those people got detention. However, Ron had a plan.

"Fred and George are mates with the barman in the Hogshead, and they said we can kip there if we need to," Ron explained as the Night Bus drove them all back to Hogwarts.

Ron and Neville had taken to joining Alaw and Hermione on their trip to Dufftown, though the novelty was starting to ware off. Mindful of the new curfew, Charity always brought them home in the early afternoon so sunlight was streaming through the windows as they rode down a busy motorway. Flooding had made travel a little tricky of late but it was no problem for the Knight Bus which somehow managed to jump ahead of every town sized puddle or now flowing river that was once a street.

"I can't wait to get out of the castle, I think I may vomit if I see another couple snogging behind the greenhouses," Alaw sighed and Hermione frowned sternly over the top of her Guardian.

"It's promising snow tonight," she warned. "And whatever you do don't try to come after dark! Filch will flip if he catches anyone else coming in."

"We know, why don't you come with us? We don't have to go to Wizhard, we'll probably just end up playing cards in the Hogshead all night."

"No thank you, if you think you'll be avoiding the couples in Hogsmead, you'll be very disappointed," Hermione replied, turning her nose up.

But Alaw and the boys were not going to be deterred, so after hastily getting ready before the sun went down, they left the castle with a beady eyed Professor McGonagall watching them go. The sky was shot through with pink as they walked down the lane, wrapped in their black cloaks and arguing about where to go.

"The Broomsticks will be packed!" Ron complained and Neville nodded in agreement. Alaw wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"But the Hogshead is a _dump_!" she whined. "I always feel like I need another tetanus jab after going there."

It was true that the pub was dingy, smelt of mildew and had a questionable clientele, and no amount of cheap drinks was going to make up for that. It was alright for the boys, they weren't leered at by creepy men in hoods whenever they went to the bar for a refill. Alaw wished Hermione had come, if only for a little support, but her friend just wasn't the drinking sort and it can't have been fun hanging around whilst everyone else got progressively more pissed.

It didn't take long for the sun to set for good beyond the mountains and darkness fell quickly. The trio took out their wands and lit their tips so they could see where they were going. The path was curving around the edge of the Forbidden Forest and the castle was now out of sight, blocked by the trees.

"Hey, Al, did you hear that?" Ron asked suddenly, stopping dead in his tracks and cocking his head. Alaw stopped too and looked around nervously.

"What?" she asked, listening intently.

"I – I thought I heard something, over there, stay very still!"

Alaw and Neville drew closer to Ron who was staring at the dark shadow between two ancient oaks a few feet from the edge of the lane. Their breath sounded loud in the sudden silence and Alaw shivered, all her muscles tense.

"Boo!" Ron cried, clutched at their shoulders and making them both scream in fright.

"Ron!" Alaw shouted furiously as Ron doubled over laughing. "You arsehole! That's not funny."

"Oh yes it bloody is!" he chortled. "Oh stop being such a baby, it was just for a laugh."

"Ha ha ha," Alaw snapped sarcastically, feeling an utter fool.

Neville, though it looked like he'd narrowly avoided having a heart attack, joined in with Ron's laughter. Alaw shook her head and muttered 'boys' under her breath, before frowning at the treeline again. There was something about the shadow which made her take a few tentative steps forward, as though there was someone lurking just out of sight.

"Come on Al, I'm sorry all right?" Ron said, punching her arm and jerking his head in the direction of Hogsmead. Alaw grunted distractedly and continued to gaze into the forest with her lips slightly parted.

"I think – I think there is something in there…" she murmured, more to herself than to the boys.

"Yeah, ok, nice try. Come on I want to get there and win my money back from Mundungus Fletcher," Ron snorted, and he and Neville started walking down the path again. Alaw didn't follow them and instead stepped towards the trees, barely acknowledging what she was doing.

"Alaw?" Neville called once he'd realised she was no longer with them. He looked over his shoulder long enough to see her vanish into the forest and he swore, dragging Ron back. "Alaw! Come back, you can't go in there!"

But Alaw was in some sort of trance, something in her mind was telling her there was something she truly needed was in this forest and she only had to go a little further to find it. She was vaguely aware of the boys shouting to her and struggling through the undergrowth, but she had broken into a run and stayed ahead of them.

"Just a little further," she muttered, brushing aside low hanging branches and leaping over boulders and fallen tree trunks.

If she had taken a second to think straight, she would have realised what a stupid idea this was, but her mind was deceiving her, making her forget the danger and only concentrating on the need to find whatever it was the forest was hiding.

"Alaw!"

Someone grabbed the back of her cloak and the sudden tug around her neck made Alaw gasp for break and stop running. She turned in bewilderment to find Neville holding her handful of her cloak and Ron bounding up behind him. They both looked very annoyed. Neville had a scratch down his cheek and Ron's hair was full of twigs.

"What the _hell_ are you playing at woman?!" Ron snarled. "Have you lost your mind?!"

"I, I don't know," Alaw stuttered. "I don't know why I did that. Something made me."

"What do you mean something made you?" Neville asked, looking her worriedly up and down. "Al are you feeling ok? You look well pale."

Alaw shivered and looked around her. She only now realised how far she had penetrated into the forest. The trees were very thick, and the starry sky was barely visible above their heads.

"We should get out of here," Alaw whispered.

She couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching them and she was remembering all of Hagrid's stories about the monsters which lived in the forest. She didn't like to believe half of them.

"I don't know which way the path is," Ron said. "I lost my bearings, maybe we should just…"

He trailed off and Alaw looked around to see what he was staring at. On the ground a few feet away from them was a pool of something silver. It was shining in the gloom and now that Alaw looked, she saw that it was spattered everywhere.

"What's that?" Ron asked, looking queasy. "It looks like blood!"

Alaw's eyes followed the path of the blood spatters up a small rise and after glancing at the boys, she climbed up it to get a better look. Beyond the rise was a hollow, empty of trees and filled with a thin layer of mist on the ground. At the centre was a tangled mess of silver-white limbs.

"Oh," Alaw said sadly. "It's a unicorn, the poor thing."

The unicorn was keening softly as it bled out and Alaw couldn't remember hearing a sadder sound in her entire life. She was about to go down and comfort the injured creature, when movement across the hollow made her freeze on the spot. A hooded figure in a long black cloak emerged from the treeline, its wand pointed at the unicorn. It picked its way down the small slope and then walked carefully up to the animal, apparently not noticing Alaw and the boys watching him. From the figure's gait, Alaw guessed he might be male, but she wasn't sure because his face was in shadow beneath the hood.

The figure whispered something indistinct and there was a sudden flash of green. The unicorn went still and Alaw's hand flew to her mouth to stifle a cry of pity. Perhaps it had been a kindness, she thought after a moment, the creature had clearly been in terrible pain. But then she saw that the curse had not been intended as a mercy at all, for the figure knelt beside the unicorn's corpse and bent over the gash in the side of its neck. Then he started to drink.

"No!" Alaw cried without thinking, anger and disgust washing over her.

The man's head jerked up and Alaw could see the blood, silver as mercury, dripping down his chin. The boys bolted and Alaw was about to follow them when she lost her footing on the loose earth and went sliding down into the hollow. She landed awkwardly on her ankle which twisted and she gasped in pain. The man was standing now, and he advanced on her with his wand drawn. Alaw gave a squeak of alarm and scrambled to draw her own wand and crawl backwards as quickly as she could.

"Stay away from me!" she commanded, although her voice shook. " _Protego_!"

Her shimmering shield, so much stronger than it had been a few months ago, flared all around her. The figure stopped and cocked his head, apparently amused. He took aim almost lazily and Alaw was about to hex him before he could do the same to her, when the sound of thundering hooves filled the air. The figure looked up and then fled as a horse came bursting out of the treeline. It leapt over Alaw's head and reared up, kicking at the retreating figure. When it was gone, Alaw's saviour turned to look at her.

"Are you hurt?" he asked anxiously.

Alaw stared and shook her head numbly. What she had mistaken for a horse as he flew past her, was actually a centaur. His human half was completely naked, accept for the bow he had slung over his shoulder. He was young, blond and quite handsome.

"T-thank you," Alaw said as he bent down to offer her a hand. "Who _was_ that?!"

"A monster," the centaur answered simply, his bright blue eyes scanning the treeline wearily. "A human we centaurs will not tolerate in our forest. Look what atrocities he commits!"

The centaur pointed at the unicorn lying dead at the centre of the hollow. Alaw looked at it but the sight made her faintly sick so she turned away quickly.

"Why would someone kill such a beautiful creature?" she asked quietly. "He was drinking its blood, I saw!"

"Song of the Mountains, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?" the centaur asked solemnly and Alaw shook her head.

"Drinking unicorn blood will keep a man alive, even if he is at the brink of death. But he will forever live a cursed life, doomed to never feel the warmth of sunlight, or the taste of food, or the joy of song. It is a half-life. Come, this place is tainted now, I will take you back to the edge of the forest where your friends await."

The centaur gestured and Alaw gladly scrambled up the bank as fast as her twisted ankle could carry her. When they were at the top, the centaur offered her his arm so she could support herself as she limped through the forest. It was a long journey, and a silent one too for the centaur only spoke once to tell her that his name was Firenze. After what seemed an age, Alaw simply couldn't hold in her curiosity.

"Why did you rescue me?" she asked. "Hagrid told me the centaur colony don't involve themselves in the affairs of humans."

Firenze did not answer for a long time, so long in fact, that Alaw began to worry that she had offended him. However he did eventually speak and it sounded like he measured every word.

"It is true that we do not concern ourselves with humans. But, I sense a kindred spirit in you, Song of the Mountains. Hagrid has spoken of you many times, and I too recognise your blood. Your ancestors had a great respect for the people of the forest. The knowers of the oak tree will always have our good will."

"And, that man, he's killing the unicorns. He should be stopped," Alaw said firmly, stumbling a little as they navigated a patch of thorns. "I'll tell Professor Dumbledore when I get back."

"Dumbledore is a great wizard," Firenze said quietly. "But even he cannot avert the disaster which is looming. Child, do you know what is lurking up at the castle this very moment?"

"The Dementor?" Alaw ventured uncertainly.

"It is a servant only, you met its master this very evening. Your kind know him by the name he gave himself. A name they fear to speak."

Alaw frowned in mild confusion, but then the memory of their lesson with Charity came echoing back to her from across the excitement of the past few months.

"Voldemort?!" she cried. "But, he's dead! He died, twenty years ago."

"He lives," Firenze corrected firmly and darkly. "My people have studied the heavens and the stars have revealed that he will return very soon. He is attempting to regain his body, and he will use the Dementor, and his spy in the castle to do so."

"There's a spy in the castle? Who is it?" Alaw asked urgently but Firenze tossed his head like a disturbed horse.

"I do not know, and I am forbidden to reveal more to you. The council of elders have already decided that we will not intervene. I have already said too much."

The tree had begun to thin and Alaw could see the path just a few paces away. Firenze stopped and Alaw let go of his arm, using a tree to steady herself instead.

"A final warning, Song of the Mountains, do not allow yourself to be lured away like this again. The Dark Lord has a strange power over the minds of others and he is seeking you most particularly."

"Me?!" Alaw whispered incredulously. "Why me? I'm no one special, I wasn't even born when he disappeared."

Firenze blinked but his face remained expressionless.

"He needs you, you are the final piece in his plan. Do not stray from the path. Farewell."

OOOOO

"It was the scariest bloody thing I've ever seen," Alaw declared.

She and the other members of the quartet were walking around the misty Transfiguration Courtyard with Hagrid. Each had an armful of logs and they followed in Hagrid's wake as he refilled the braziers on the walls. It was the day after Valentine's and Alaw had been bursting to tell someone about her encounter in the forest. After limping back to the castle as fast as Alaw's bad ankle would allow them, she and the boys had been collared by Filch, only to confuse him by demanding to see the headmaster. They spent ten minutes babbling the whole story in Dumbledore's office whilst the old wizard sat and listened gravely. Dumbledore looked neither surprised nor worried, even when Alaw recounted what Firenze had said to her.

"What did Dumbledore say?" Hermione asked once Alaw had finished the re-telling.

"He said thank-you for bringing it to his attention and that I had been very silly, wandering into the forest like that."

"An e's right," Hagrid growled. "What do ye think ye were doing eh? Could have been killed! There's more than poachers in them woods Al."

"It's not like I chose to run in there, it was like I was in a trance or something! And he wasn't a poacher anyway," Alaw insisted irritably, for that had been Dumbledore's dismissive theory as well. "He wasn't just nicking tail hairs, he was drinking its _blood._ Firenze said only a desperate man would do that."

"Yeah well, they can be funny like that centaurs," Hagrid said knowingly. "Spend too much time with their heads in the stars if ye ask me."

"So you think Firenze was wrong when he said there was a great evil up at the school? Because the Bloody Barron said the same thing to me just we found Penelope Clearwater."

"And you're sure he meant Voldemort?" Hermione asked sceptically and Hagrid, Ron and Neville flinched. Alaw ignored them.

"Yes! He didn't want to say but I got it out of him eventually."

"But Al, You-Know-Who's dead," Neville reminded her.

"How do we know?" Alaw pressed. "They never found a body, he just disappeared. Maybe – maybe he was injured. Yeah, maybe he was just hurt and went into hiding. And now he's slithering around the forest, drinking unicorn blood to stay alive."

"But how does that connect to the Dementor attacking people?" Neville asked and it was Ron who answered this time.

"Maybe he set it loose," he said darkly. "It's the kind of thing he used to do in the old day."

"But how is Voldemort supposed to haul a Dementor up to the castle without anyone noticing, whilst he's supposed to mortally wounded?" Hermione interjected.

"A'right that's enough!" Hagrid, who had been listening to them bicker in stony silence, cried. He turned to scowl at the four of them sternly. "Ye don't know what ye're talking about! Even if You-Know-Who was still alive, e'd never come ere! Dumbledore was the only one 'e was ever scared of. So listen to me, all of ye, ye're meddling in things that don't concern ye don't understand. Dumbledore wouldn't be happy if 'e heard ye was sticking yer noses in where they don't belong, especially you Alaw."

"Well, Dumbledore isn't exactly top of my list of favourite people right now," Alaw said coldly. "And why 'especially' me?"

"Listen," Hagrid said, now looking a little desperate. "It's dangerous, please forget about this, 'afore ye end up like poor little Harry Potter!"

The four students blinked at the Game Keeper, non-plused.

"Who the hell is Harry Potter?" Alaw asked.

Hagrid looked very annoyed with himself, clearly he had said more than he should. He took the last bundle of logs from Neville and stomped away, muttering to himself.

OOOOO

Hagrid's slip up remained on Alaw's mind for the next few days. They had been unable to coak any more information out of the game keeper, who staunchly refused to discuss the matter. Hermione – and oddly enough Ron – said they thought they'd heard the name 'Harry Potter' somewhere before and the former was combing the library for clues. As for Alaw, she spent the rest of the month writing essays, messing with Theodore's gang and mulling over what Firenze had told her.

Considering he had revealed that the most dangerous wizard of all time was out to get her, Alaw was more curious that worried. Perhaps this was because she found it hard to take seriously. Firenze had been frustratingly cryptic about the reason Voldemort was supposedly hunting her. Alaw simply couldn't see why the Dark Lord would have any interest at all in her, apart from her ancestry perhaps, but how was he supposed to have found out about that?

With no other leads, Alaw took to reading the book Hermione had given to her about Druids, flicking through its pages absently every now and then looking for clues. This was what she found herself doing one windy Saturday at the end of February, as she sat with Neville in a cosy corner of Warlock's Nook. Alaw had her feet up on the bench and he nose in the book whilst her forgotten hot chocolate sat on the table beside her, growing steadily colder. Neville had given up trying to hold a conversation and now sat opposite his friend, filling out the Daily Prophet's crossword puzzle. He was quite surprised when Alaw piped up,

"We're a vicious bunch of twats aren't we? Humans I mean."

"What are you on about?" Neville asked in confusion and Alaw tapped her book.

"Just reading about human sacrifices, isn't it depressing how the oldest kind of magic always seems to involve blood?"

"Oh I don't know about that. What about love magic?" Neville countered reasonably.

"One and the same in the olden days," Alaw snorted. "Someone has to die along the way. Listen to this, _some sources claim that one of the final great acts of the Druids, before their culture was wiped out by the Romans, was the so-called 'Protection of the Innocents'. Though the details of this violent ritual are now lost, the result was the mass suicide of an entire tribe belonging to the Ordovices_."

She paused and glanced up at Neville over the top of her book.

"I'm probably descended from the Ordovices," she said ruefully.

"So what? That's just one example," Neville argued. "The oldest kind of magic recorded is actually sex magic. Sex is way more common than murder, no matter how bad things get."

"Sex magic," Alaw scoffed. "That's such an outdated concept. No one actually believes in that anymore do they? It's not like blood magic, which has been proved to work."

"I know which one I'd rather be true," Neville muttered, resting his head on his fist and going back to his crossword.

Alaw smiled slightly and then glanced around the café. It's wasn't particularly full, with only a couple of witches sitting by the window arguing about the bill. The bell over the door tinkled and Professor Lupin came in, looking shabby and tired as usual. He smiled at Alaw when she lifted a hand in greeting before ordering a cup of coffee from the waitress. No sooner had he sat down than the bell tinkled again as Ron and Hermione burst through the door. They made their way eagerly over to Alaw and Neville, dragging a couple of extra chairs from another table as they did.

"Guess what? I found out who Harry Potter is!" Ron said excitedly.

Over at his table, Professor Lupin looked around so fast he might have broken his neck.

"What do you mean you found out? I was the one who got the book out!" Hermione said indignantly.

"Yeah, and I read it in the book," Ron snapped.

"So who is he?" Alaw asked quickly, because this looked like it was going to turn into a full blown argument. Hermione opened her mouth to answer but Ron beat her to it.

"Was, he's dead. The Potter's were killed by You-Know-Who in the first war, Harry was their kid."

"Well what's that got to do with what's going on now?" Alaw asked, disappointed.

"Dunno, maybe Hagrid just meant it as a warning. You know, 'don't go messing about with dangerous stuff or bad things happen'." Neville shrugged. Alaw frowned and pursed her lips. She'd been expecting something a lot more exciting than this. She checked her watch and saw that it was already six o clock.

"Come on, we should head back to school if we want to catch dinner and not get a bollocking from Filch," she sighed, stuffing her book back inside her bag.

"But we just got here!" Ron cried.

As they left the café, Alaw glanced over at Professor Lupin and found that he was staring at them, looking as though he had just seen a ghost.


	17. Chapter 16 - Birthday Surprises

**Author's Note – Thanks once more to my faithful reviewer Toraach, and to my new favourites and followers.**

Chapter Sixteen

Birthday Surprises

Alaw twiddled her thumbs as she sat reading the Daily Prophet, tutting and tisking every now and then over the backwards articles or the ludicrous Ministry blunders. Ron and Neville, who were playing exploding snap beside her, had long since learned not to question her occasional swears lest they be bombarded with a long winded rant about the politics of the day. There were a few other groups like them sitting in the Great Hall, talking and working as they waited for lunch to be sent up. Hogwarts had been enjoying a peaceful few weeks as winter slowly loosened its grip and the first hints of spring floated in on a crisp breeze.

The monster in the dungeons hadn't been sighted since its attack on Ernie, although the Slytherins were still absolutely forbidden from leaving their common room after dark, and there was still a regular patrol of the dungeons. Alaw and Neville had managed to blow up a cauldron or two in Potions but other than their detentions, nothing too dreadful had happened for a while. Their other classes were going well, even though Alaw's Defence Against the Dark Arts mark had started to suffer again, and Hagrid appeared to have forgotten his slip up about Harry Potter.

But Alaw couldn't bring herself to forget what they had seen in the Forbidden Forest. Voldemort haunted her dreams, taking the form of the hooded figure with unicorn blood dripping from his chin. Alaw still dreamed about being trapped in a small box, fighting for air, and the muffled voice with its bobbing candle coming to check on her. She had realised these weren't normal dreams weeks ago, but she couldn't explain them, and ignored Hermione's suggestion of going to the headmaster.

"Little fucker," she muttered mutinously, closing the paper with an angry rustle and flinging it away in disgust.

"Fudge again?" Neville asked idly, placing a card with great caution on the pile.

"No, Lucius Malfoy. You know what he's yapping about now? Blood checks for high end jobs! I mean what the fuck?!"

She ranted on for some time but the boys tactfully didn't say anything, knowing how touchy she could be when it came to politics. Ron had made the somewhat foolish mistake of questioning her stance of muggle politics and had seriously regretted it. Alaw's friends simply knew to let her finish her lectures seething and cursing under her breath. Which was a shame really, because Alaw liked a good debate but none of her friends had the heart to argue with her. Ron and Neville were saved from her latest tirade by Fred and George who came over and clapped Alaw on the back.

"There's the birthday girl!" Fred cried jovially. "So, what's the plan? Pre's here and then wankered in Wizhard again?"

"No, I still haven't recovered from Ron's birthday!" Alaw snorted. "I don't ever want to wake up on a bench in the Hogshead again, I swear I got flees from that dump. No tonight weren't just having a quiet game of cards. You know Hermione doesn't like going out and I'd quite like my best friend to be at my birthday."

"Wow, aren't you adventurous? Think we'll give it a miss thanks," George said scathingly.

"Oh please come, we'll have alcohol don't you worry. I was going to teach these two Ring of Fire and Never Have I Ever," Alaw pleaded.

Ron leant across and muttered,

"Please come along, she hasn't stopped talking about this Ring of Fire thing all term – argh!"

Ron snatched his hands away with a yelp as the pack of cards on the table gave of a bang like a firecracker and wafted smoke over the group. Coughing, Alaw waved her hand to dispel the cloud before frowning at the slightly singed deck of cards.

"We are definitely not using those!" she said firmly.

Once evening rolled around Fred and George had agreed to make an appearance at the party if only to shut Alaw up. She dully dragged her sofa and a group of chairs into a circle in her sitting room and got out the drinks from the cupboard. On their last Dufftown trip, she and Hermione had bought muggle alcohol, and Alaw was looking forward to introducing Ron to jager bombs.

The party started off alright with only the six of them, even though Alaw had to keep repeating the rules of the game. She and Hermione, who were used to this sort of activity, managed to make all four of the boys blush during Never-Have-I-Ever with their questions.

"Come on Ron! This is a basic starter question," Alaw giggled over the rim of her cup whilst Ron's cheeks burned like the setting sun. "Never-Have-I-Ever shagged in public!"

"Well have you?" he countered and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"No, Ron, that's not how it works. You drink to say yes, you don't drink to say no."

Ron resolutely set his drink down and crossed his arms. So did Neville and the twins, and Hermione. Alaw scowled.

"God you people are boring," she sighed, even though she didn't raise her cup to her lips either.

Ring of Fire went down much better, but they didn't make it to the end of the first game before more people turned up. Alaw hadn't realised that her friends had been recruiting guests all week and was surprised, yet pleased, when what seemed like half the year turned up in her tiny living room. She duly opened up her bedroom to use as a cloak room and someone – probably Dean – tuned the radio to look for some music. The games night idea went out the window fairly quickly after that but Alaw didn't mind too much. She was surprised to see so many Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws turn up but then she reflected that good parties were hard to come by since the curfew had been introduced. But she didn't see a single Slytherin among the guests.

"Didn't Camron and Flora want to come? Or Daphne?" Alaw asked Hermione once she'd tracked her down at the drinks table. Hermione looked apologetically at her.

"We did ask them, but you know how the curfew is, it's alright for us up here but they're not allowed to leave the dungeons at this time of night."

Though she understood, Alaw was disappointed. She missed hanging around with her Slytherin friends, there wasn't much opportunity for it now she was banned from the Common Room and Theodore had passed some sort of law saying that anyone who spoke to Alaw was a traitor. As the evening wore on, Alaw started to feel a little woozy. She was dancing to _The Whomping Willows_ , and though it was quite a mellow tune, she felt her head spinning and the room suddenly tilted. Before she knew it, Alaw had landed on her rump and was looking up at her friends in some confusion.

"Oopsidaisy," Neville chuckled, bending down to help her onto her feet. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Alaw said breathlessly, putting a hand to her forehead and looking at her half empty cup of butterbeer. "That was weird, I don't know what happened!"

"I do, you've have one too many of them," Neville said, prising the cup from her fingers and setting it down on the side table.

"No I haven't! I've only had three and they aren't strong!" Alaw protested. But then she felt her head start to reel again and she clutched Neville's arm. "Nev, I'm really sorry but could you help me to the toilet?" she groaned.

Neville hastily pulled her through the crowd, into her bedroom and to the door of the toilet which mercifully was unoccupied. Alaw locked herself in quickly before sinking to the floor, her hands clutching her head as she groaned. Her chest was throbbing painfully and Alaw curled into a ball. But she wasn't going to throw up as she expected to. Instead, her vision went black and she could no longer hear a sound. Panicking, she tried to call out but found that she couldn't. The next second, she felt herself floating away.

O

When Alaw's vision returned to her she felt oddly, detached, her body felt unfamiliar and weirdly heavy. She looked around carefully, her heart beating rather fast. She recognised where she was at once, she was on the muggle studies corridor, just one floor below her room. A dozen snoozing portraits lined the walls and she shuffled past them trying not to make a sound. She was carrying something bulky in both arms, and she glanced down to see a wooden chest bound in metal.

"Master," a voice whispered. It was the strangest voice she had ever heard, for it seemed to come from her own mouth, and yet sounded nothing like her. She most certainly had not meant to speak and her jaw felt strange, moving of its own accord.

"Master," not-Alaw said again, "Perhaps we ought to return to the dungeons, I fear there may be patrols here tonight."

"Silence!" another voice hissed, and this time it seemed to come from inside Alaw's own skull. Now she recognised both voices, the hissing voice was the one she heard whenever she found herself trapped in the box, and the other was the muffled owner of the bobbing candle. "Don't be a fool, how long have we waited for you to be given the dungeon patrol? We may not be given many chances between now and the Milk Moon, so keep your nerve or you shall feel Lord Voldemort's displeasure."

This situation had Alaw in complete confusion, the logistics alone boggled her mind. How could she be inside the body of the nervous candle bobber, and Lord Voldemort at the same time? And why was she in either of their bodies at all?! She wanted very much to escape this nightmare, but there was no way to extract herself. She was afraid that if she thought too loudly, one of them would hear her. The Dark Lord's servant suddenly stopped, jolting Alaw out of her panic. He cocked his head and listened carefully, and from around the next corner, they heard giggling voices.

"Come on Hestia, don't be such a coward!" sniggered the voice of Pansy Parkinson. "It'll be fun."

"I just think we're going to get into trouble, we're not even supposed to be out of the dungeons," whined Hestia. Alaw had never much liked Flora's sister, but right then she desperately wanted to call out and warn her to run for her life.

As the girls bickered, the servant edged forward, holding onto the chest tightly. Judging by the sound of their argument, Alaw guessed the Slytherin girls must have been standing at the foot of the narrow staircase that led to the corridor above. That staircase emerged just ten paces from her door, behind the tapestry of the knight and the dragon.

"Theodore is going to love this," said a third voice, Millicent Bulstrode. "Just think, we can pay back that little mudblood for all the times she's showed him up. Stupid little whore. Honestly, I don't know why they let them come to Hogwarts in the first place."

"Now, hurry!" Voldemort hissed.

His servant knelt on the cold stone floor, set down the box, and opened it with a murmured spell. The lid sprang back and black shadow rose out of it, its filthy breath rattling inside its chest.

O

The next thing Alaw knew, she was lying on the floor of her bathroom again. Someone was hammering on the door and she groaned, clutching the edge of the sink to pull herself upright.

"Alaw!" she heard Hermione shout, sounding frightened. "Alaw open this door!"

Alaw unlocked the door and peered outside. Hermione, Neville and Ron were congregated there, each one staring at her in shock. Hermione grabbed her shoulders.

"Al, what's wrong?! You were screaming your head off!"

The music from the next room pounded on Alaw's ears and gratefully she realised no one else had heard her yells.

"He's here," she said suddenly. "He's here right now, downstairs."

"Who's here?" Neville asked blankly.

"Voldemort!" Alaw snapped. "Voldemort is here with his servant. Firenze was right, he does have a man on the inside, and he's about to set the Dementor on Pansy, Hestia and Millicent!"

"Oh my god," Ron said, looking aghast. "Well come on don't just stand there! We have to stop this!"

And to the astonishment of the girls, he and Neville ran out of the bedroom. Hermione and Alaw followed at top speed, squirming through the crowd which was egging on George as he attempted to down a pint faster than Seamus. Alaw caught up with Ron in the corridor outside.

"Ron are you insane?!" she yelped. "You can't fend off a Dementor, it'll get you too!"

"Well we can't just let it happen right under our noses can we?!" he snarled, turning this way and that with his wand at the ready. "Downstairs you said?"

He lunged for the tapestry and Alaw made another grab for him, but missed.

"Go and find a teacher, quick!" she ordered the other two, before throwing back the tapestry and following Ron down the spiralling staircase.

The redheaded fool had stopped at the bottom of the stairs and was peering around at the apparently deserted corridor.

"Where did you see them?" he whispered.

"They were right here, now come on let's go back! This is crazy," Alaw hissed at him, tugging at the back of his robes.

"Oh, stop being such a Slytherin," he muttered, a ventured forward. Feeling tortured, Alaw followed him with her wand clutched in her slightly sweaty hand. She couldn't believe she was following Ron into this suicide mission. There was something red glistening on the floor ahead of them and Alaw's hand shook a little. But then she realised it wasn't blood, but paint. The pot lay on its side just a few feet away, with a brush floating in the pool it had created. Perhaps Pansy and her friends had brought it with them in the hopes of swearing something insulting on Alaw's door.

 _How original_ , Alaw thought dryly. Then her blood curdled as a hair-raising scream echoed down the corridor, bouncing off the walls. Ron and Alaw ran to the pain pot and then stared aghast around the corner. Pansy was slumped against the wall closest to them, her eyes blank and staring. Millicent was lying face dawn just a few feet from her and beyond that they saw Hestia crawling backwards at top speed, screaming hysterically. The Dementor bore down on her and right before their eyes, swooped to grab her head. Alaw felt as though she was about to vomit and lifted a hand to her mouth. _Not again_ , she thought, _I can't see this again_!

She was wanted to run, forwards or backwards she hadn't quite decided, but she could do neither with her legs frozen in place. Ron, the crazy noble fool, yelled and pelted towards the Dementor with his wand shooting off red sparks. The creature barely seemed to notice him and didn't drop Hestia until it was finished with her. Then it turned on Ron, its vile featureless face shining in the ghostly moonlight. The sparks which Ron was lobbing at it just streamed off its chest as it floated calmly towards him. Alaw wrenched herself forward to yank Ron back.

"Help!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs.

She lifted her own wand even though she knew it was futile.

"Flipendo!" she tried, but the Dementor did not fly backwards. "Stupify! Reducto!"

None of the usual spells would work so Alaw trusted her first Slytherin instinct and ran for it, dragging Ron along behind her. They jumped up the stairs as quickly as a pair of mountain goats but the Dementor simply glided along behind them. Alaw could feel the drowning cold it created clutch at her lungs and she stumbled a little at the top, gasping. Then she heard Ron squeal and she turned to see that the Dementor had wrapped its slimy hand around his wrist and was pulling him back down the steps. Alaw was just wildly wondering what would happened if she just punched the Dementor, when she heard a man yell,

"Expecto Patronum!"

Something silver and painfully bright shot over her head and slammed into the Dementor. The creature hissed and released Ron at once, fleeing before the dancing light. Ron sank weak-kneed to the floor and Alaw grabbed his shoulder to stop him keeling over. Next second, Lupin was on the scene. His scarred face looked paler than usual as his eyes flit over Ron critically.

"Are you two alright? What on earth possessed you to go after it alone?" Lupin demanded, looking both angry and relieved.

"It was his stupid idea!" Alaw protested, gesturing at Ron who was shaking badly. Lupin rose and peered down the dark stairs wearily.

"Get back to your room Alaw, bar the door, no one is to leave is that understood?" he said tersely, before diving down the stairs.

Hermione and Neville, who had been hanging back until that point, rushed forward to help Alaw coax Ron back onto his feet and limp towards the party which was still in full swing. All in all, this wasn't shaping up to one of Alaw's better birthdays.

 **Please read and review, tell me what you think!**


	18. Chapter 17 - Silver Mist

**Toraach – I like the sound of your parties, they seem fun** **The games the characters play are the ones my friends and I used to play when we were in sixth form, and I thought they were pretty universal. As I recall, they always just fell apart once everyone got too drunk to remember whose turn it was.**

Chapter 17

Silver Mist

Alaw walked down the second floor corridor with her charms books tucked under her arm as the rest of the class filed away in the opposite direction. Hermione and the boys were going to the library but Alaw felt to preoccupied to join them. She didn't want to have to sit quietly when her mind was whirring like an over-excited clock so she decided to head into the grounds for a walk. On her way down the Grand Staircase she passed knots of students speaking in hushed, excited voices. To Alaw's great consternation, the attack on Pansy, Hestia and Millicent was being discussed rather gleefully amongst the non-Slytherins of the school. The girls hadn't been well liked and the Gryffindors in particular seemed to enjoy the fact that the Slytherins were getting their fair share of misery.

Sick of the speculation, Alaw tried not to listen to the conversations she passed. It was bad enough that it had happened a stone's throw away from her room, but now Alaw was fairly certain she was losing her mind. She had been inside the Dark Lord's servant, and the Dark Lord had been inside her. As Hermione had pointed out, that wasn't normal even in the wizarding world. The girls had had to silence Ron with kicks and glares as he had launched into the story of the attack last night to a couple of grim faced Aurors. The Ministry officials had treated all the guests at Alaw's party with great suspicion and the interviews had lasted hours, mostly because people were too drunk to get their stories straight.

Not at all keen to be hauled all the way to London to get her head checked out, Alaw had lied and said they'd heard Hestia scream from her room and rushed to investigate. Finally, when the sky beyond the mullion windows had started to turn from inky black to shocking pink and orange, the Aurors had left them in peace. The moment the door closed behind them, Ron had rounded on Alaw.

"Why didn't you tell them the truth?" he demanded.

Alaw collapsed on her sofa, her fingers massaging her temples gingerly. Her room was a mess, bottles of butterbeer lay on every surface and the cushions smelt strongly of spilt fire whisky but all she wanted to do was go to sleep.

"Don't be daft Ron!" Hermine snapped. "Imagine what the Ministry would do to her if they found out she was hearing Voldemort's thoughts!"

"So you do believe me then?" Alaw asked as Ron and Neville winced at the sound of the name. Neville looked very pale and frightened but he nodded.

"Of course we do, you knew the Dementor was there didn't you? If you hadn't warned us, it might have come in here and got to all of us before Lupin could show up."

All four of them shuddered at the thought.

"So…" Ron said, clearly trying to steer their minds away from such gruesome images, "That centaur was right, there is a spy in the castle. Could you tell who it was Al?"

"No, voices sound weird when you're inside the person," she said grimly. "But get this, I heard Voldemort say something about the 'Milk Moon'."

"The Milk Moon?" Hermione asked, frowning. "What's that when it's at home?"

"I don't know, it's weird isn't it? What's so important about the moon anyway?"

 _What indeed_ , Alaw wondered as she trotted down the last few steps and reached the Entrance Hall. Hermione's suggestion had been the same as it had been all year, tell Dumbledore. But Alaw wasn't sure. She had already warned Dumbledore that it was Voldemort stalking their halls and that he had a man on the inside, but he hadn't seemed to take her seriously so what was the point of telling him again? He'd probably just send her to Madam Pomphrey to get her noggin checked out, and she didn't want it put about that she was unhinged.

The Entrance Hall was quite crowded for some reason and Alaw looked around at the crowd with a puzzled frown. They were mostly Slytherins she noted, and the tone of the conversation here was much grimer than it had been on the upper floors. Everyone looked frightened and edgy, and when they caught sight of her many people stared. Then Alaw realised that Flora was standing at the centre of the crowd, with Cameron hugging her tightly and Tracy Davis and Daphne Greengrass standing by. They too fell silent when Alaw appeared and Flora raised her tearstained face from Cameron's shoulder. She reached for Alaw with a trembling hand.

"Alaw?" she said in a quavering voice. Worried that she was about to be blamed for Hestia's demise, Alaw came forward cautiously. However Flora was so stricken that she couldn't say anything to Alaw, she just broke down completely.

"Flora, I'm so sorry," Alaw said, suddenly choked up. Flora wailed and flung herself into Alaw's arms instead.

"My sister!" she sobbed. "You tried to save her! The Aurors t-told us how you and the Gr-Gryffindors tried to s-save her!"

Alaw hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "We tried, but we weren't fast enough."

"They won't even let me see her! They've taken her to St Mungo's, but they won't let me go. Did you see the thing that did this?!" Flora asked desperately.

For once, Alaw was not dying to tell everyone Dumbledore's dirty little secret. She just couldn't bring herself to destroy what little hope Flora may still have for her sister's health.

"I – I didn't see the thing," Alaw lied with a heavy heart. Flora choked but clutched Alaw closer, until a sneering shout echoed around the Entrance Hall.

"Yuch, Carrow! You've got mud all down your front, you might want to get up to the Hospital Wing and get yourself checked out!"

Theodore Knott and the other usual suspects all sniggered at the hilarity of this joke from their vantage point halfway up the marble staircase. But for once, their fellow Slytherins didn't join in the fun. The crowd just averted their eyes uncomfortably, clearly showing that there was a time and place for such comments. Alaw, who was used to their jeering by now, simply ignored them but Flora whipped around with a look of fury on her usually calm face.

"Shut up Theodore!" she screamed, her voice bounding off the stone walls of the Entrance Hall. Everyone stared at this outburst before turning to see what Theodore's reaction was. He looked a little taken aback but recovered himself quickly.

"Turning into a mudblood lover are we Carrow? Your parents will be devastated, one daughter a drooling idiot, and the other a blood traitor."

Flora whipped out her wand and sent a curse flying towards Theodore. Draco Malfoy managed to block the spell just in time but it let out a deafening clang as it bounced off his shield.

"You're the traitor Theodore, you little piece of shit!" Flora roared, her whole face red. "I heard you last night, egging my sister on. You're the reason they left the common room in the first place, and Alaw tried to save them. I think she's ten times the Slytherin you are!"

Perhaps it was lucky the spell had made such a racket, because it attracted the attention of the teachers before Theodore could retaliate. Professors McGonagall, Snape and Lupin came running into the Entrance Hall from the Great Hall to find half the Slytherins pointing wands at each other.

"What is the meaning of this? Wands away at once!" McGonagall shouted, glaring around at the students. Most people obeyed, though with varying degrees of resentment on their faces. Flora and Theodore still had their wands gripped tightly in their hands and McGongall's eyes flashed dangerously.

"Miss Carrow, wand away," she said warningly and Cameron quickly put a hand on Flora's arm to calm her.

"Theodore, do as you're told," Snape said, glaring at his student. Theodore's eyes narrowed but he too lowered his wand.

"Now, would anyone like to tell me what prompted this argument?" McGonagall asked the room at large but the Slytherins merely shuffled their feet and gazed at the floor.

McGonagall's lips thinned and she looked at Alaw, perhaps expecting more cooperation from her, but she was wrong. Alaw just looked away and put an arm around Flora's shoulders. Defeated by the closed ranks, McGonagall dismissed the students with a huff and wave of her hand. People split off into groups, some heading for the stairs and others into the Great Hall. Cameron, Daphne and Tracy took a still furious Flora off Alaw's hands and led her towards the Common Room. Snape had gone to give a whispered telling off to Theodore and Draco and Alaw was about to make herself scarce when Lupin collared her.

"Walk with me," he said, jerking his head towards the oak front doors.

Grateful for the quick get-away, Alaw followed him outside before Theodore could detach himself from Snape and follow her. It was a beautiful day in the Hogwarts Grounds, late blooming daffodils waved serenely in the breeze as Lupin and Alaw followed the path with led to the lake. Lupin waited until they had reached its rippling shores before speaking.

"Are you alright Alaw? After last night's attack."

Alaw nodded but kept her eyes fixed on the sparkling waters of the lake. Her nod wasn't entirely truthful, she was still slightly shell-shocked from coming within ten feet of the Dementor again, but the fear still hadn't quite hit her.

"It came so close to my room," Alaw said after a pause. "It was so close. How did it get so far through the castle without anyone noticing it? I thought there were extra patrols now."

"There are," Lupin confirmed. "But somehow it keeps slipping past us. Between you and I, I don't think it can possibly be acting alone. There must be someone helping it, though I can't for the life of me think who would do such a thing."

Alaw stopped gazing at the lake and looked up into the worried and lined face of her teacher. She'd given up hope of Dumbledore believing a word she said, but perhaps Lupin would listen.

"There is someone helping it," she blurted out. Lupin looked at her in great surprise.

"You've seen someone?" he asked eagerly but Alaw shook her head.

"No, but I know someone is."

She launched into the story of her encounter in the forest, leaving nothing out. Lupin did not interrupt her, only wincing when she mentioned Voldemort's name. He listened intently but his expression was no easier to read than Dumbledore's had been and when Alaw finished speaking he was quiet for a long time.

"Well, it certainly is suspicious," he conceded after a while. "Only a desperate man would drink unicorn blood and the Dark Lord's body was never recovered. I suppose it's entirely possible he could have survived this long. But how is a Dementor supposed to help him restore his body? And who is helping him?"

"There's something else," Alaw said grimly. "Firenze said that there's some sort of connection between me and Voldemort and I think he's right. For the past few months I've been having these weird dreams and stabbing pains in my chest. And last night, I saw someone release the Dementor. It was like I was watching from behind their eyes!"

This Lupin stared at her wide eyed and Alaw worried she may have convinced him that she was losing her mind. But he just asked a few questions which she tried her best to answer in full. Finally, Lupin rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"This is all very strange. I can't make head nor tail of it, have you told Dumbledore yet?"

"No," Alaw said sourly. "I tried telling him what I'd seen in the forest but I don't think he took me very seriously."

"Alaw, the headmaster would want to hear this from you. You can trust him."

Alaw merely grunted and kicked at a stone on the path so that it plopped into the water. They had now come quite far from the castle and were nearing the edge of the forbidden forest. Smoke was rising from the chimney of Hagrid's Hut and Alaw could see the giant pottering about in his garden.

"Alaw, would you like to learn how to defend yourself against Dementors?" Lupin asked suddenly, jerking Alaw out of her reverie.

"Is that possible?" Alaw asked in surprise.

"Oh yes there is a charm. Of course it's very advanced, way beyond anything you've been doing so far. But if what you say is true, and the Dark Lord may be targeting you for some reason, then I think its best you prepare yourself. What do you say?"

"Yes!" Alaw cried excitedly. "Yes, of course."

"Excellent, how about Wednesday afternoon in my classroom? Is four o clock all right?"

Alaw nodded eagerly and Lupin smiled. He left her after that, saying he had a class to get to, and Alaw walked the remainder of the journey to Hagrid's Hut to beg a cup of tea.

O

The promise of Dementor fighting lessons gave Alaw a small glimmer of hope, enough to help her sleep for the next few days. The backlash she'd been expecting from Theodore did not come, apparently the threat of the incriminating letter was still holding strong, and from Alaw heard tensions were running high in the Slytherin Common Room. At ten to four on Wednesday, Alaw left Hermione and the boys in the library and made her way to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. The desks had been pushed back as they always were when they practised duelling and Alaw tapped her wand against her thigh nervously.

"Ah, good afternoon Alaw," Lupin said cheerfully as he emerged from the store cupboard, wheeling a small chest of drawers before him. "Come in, come in, sit yourself down somewhere."

Alaw closed the door behind her with her foot and went to perch herself on one of the desks. Lupin left the drawers in the middle of the room before turning to his pupil.

"Now then, I've been wondering how I'm going to teach you this. We obviously can't have a real Dementor to practise on, but there are a number of minor dark creatures on whom the spell also works. Now I found this ghoul lurking in one of the upstairs classrooms, apparently it's been annoying Professor Sinistra for months so I decided to get rid of it for her."

As if on que, the top drawer rattled and an eerie yet muffled moan drifted out of it. Alaw swallowed nervously and gazed at the drawers. She had never seen a ghoul, though Ron sometimes complained about the one living in his family's attic.

"Don't worry," Lupin said, correctly reading her look of apprehension. "Ghouls are harmless, at worst he'll throw something at you and growl. But they are vulnerable to the Patronus charm and I thought it best to start with something easy, before moving on to more dangerous foe. Of course I could have used a boggart but from what I remember, the manifestation of your fear wouldn't be much use in practising a spell like this."

Alaw scowled a little in embarrassment at the mention of the Halloween disaster. It did seem like every time she tried to throw a party, something went wrong. The ghoul shook the drawers again but Alaw stood up and gripped her wand with a little more confidence. Lupin took out his own wand and spoke very seriously.

"Now Alaw, this is very advanced magic I'll be trying to teach you, there are many grown wizards who can't manage it so don't be disappointed if it takes you a little time to master, alright? Good. So the spell is the Patronus Charm, and it acts as a barrier between you and the dementor or in this case the ghoul. A fully corporeal patronus will kill a dementor, reducing it to nothing, but that takes years to master. The words are _Expecto Patronum_ , got it?"

Alaw nodded and muttered the spell over and over under her breath

"Very good. Now like a lot of charms the Patronus needs more than focus or sheer will power, it needs emotion to fuel it, it this case happiness. You need to select a memory that makes you happy, something powerful and strong. Allow it to fill you up."

This wasn't particularly difficult, Alaw had plenty of happy memories, but nothing would compare to the first time she boarded the Hogwarts Express, that sense of excitement brimming up until she could barely contain it. When she had it fixed in her mind again she nodded and Lupin smiled and moved towards the drawers.

"Ready?" he asked. "One, two…three!"

He rapped his wand smartly on the handle of the top drawer and it burst open. Some slimy and white woozed out of it, dribbling onto the floor. Alaw wrinkled her nose but kept her wand at the ready, muttering all the while. The ghoul flopped fully out of the drawer and simply lay there on the carpet, looking like a giant snot, or a beached jellyfish. Then it started to drag itself upright into a vaguely human shape. Its gloopy mouth opened and it gurgled at Alaw. It was quite disgusting and Alaw took a deep breath before saying clearly.

" _Expecto Patronum_."

Nothing happened. Scowling, Alaw tried again, a little more forcefully.

" _Expecto Patronum!"_

"Keep your memory in mind, focus on it, try to feel as you did then," Lupin reminded her, keeping well back from the ghoul which was dragging itself towards Alaw.

But Alaw was already focusing on her memory, and a few more castings yielded no more results than the first two. Alaw was getting frustrated by the time the ghoul started throwing books at her. She and Lupin ducked behind some desks as the books thudded to the floor around them.

"Alright, perhaps a demonstration is in order," Lupin chuckled, and he popped up from behind his desk.

" _Expecto Patronum_!" he cried, and a stream of silver mist whooshed from the end of his wand.

It shot towards the ghoul which growled angrily, clawing at the mist and falling once more into a snot pile. Lupin levitated the creature back into the drawer which slid shut, and the mist evaporated.

"That looked easy," Alaw said, unable to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

"It isn't, believe me. There's a certain element of confidence that goes with it I think. But I'm sure you'll get the hang of it eventually, Professor Flitwick says you're top of the Charms class."

At this, Alaw felt herself blush and she tried to hide how pleased this information made her.

"Nah, that's Hermione," she said, staring shyly at her feet. "Um, can you do a corporeal Patronus sir?"

At once, Alaw felt she may have asked an impertinent question, because Lupin's smile slipped.

"Ah, no, I can't," he said quickly. "But the shield version of the charm can be very effective. Now let's try again shall we?"

oOoOo

Unlike most of the Charms Alaw had attempted that year, the Patronus did not come easily to her. She only had a couple more lessons before the Easter holidays meant they had to take a break and she didn't manage to create a shield in either of them. The ghoul had started to laugh gloopily whenever she failed and she was hard pressed not to curse it instead. During her free time she practiced the spell, either in her room, dully waving her wand, or on the quiet walks to the village.

Hermione approved of her attempts and had tried to learn the charm herself, but with little success. The girls didn't have much time to practice before the holidays were upon them and Alaw had to catch the Hogwarts Express back to the south. Despite the limitations on her magic, Alaw was glad to leave Hogwarts, which was still in a state of emergency after the attacks. Slytherin house was cracking under the pressure of so many arguments, most of which were blamed on Alaw, and the Law Enforcement Squad seemed to never leave the school these days.

Snowdonia wasn't nearly as beautiful as it had been at Christmas, blanketed in snow and covered in twinkling lights. Now it was bleak, grey and rain washed, and Alaw's plans of visiting the beach were dashed the moment her father drove her past the coast were the sea looked cold and uninviting. Despite the weather it was a relief to step over the threshold of the family home, drenched from head to toe and dripping onto the welcome mat. It felt wonderful to sleep in her own bed, sink into her own bath and eat junk food from the takeaway down the road again.

But it was only a flying visit. The first years had been given a metric ton of homework to do over the holidays, mostly coursework essays, but also revision sheets to help them with the coming exams. With over a month to go until these, Alaw wasn't in any particular hurry to get cracking – even though she'd given Hermione palpitations by telling her so – but the essays were a more pressing concern. Her parents were disappointed when she told them she could only stay until Easter Sunday but understood her need to return to school.

Whilst she was there, she visited her old friends from secondary school and fought with her brother over control of the TV and the Play Station. On her final day in Wales, Alaw went to church with her father as usual, was given and armful of Easter eggs which had been sent by her extended family, and before she knew it she was climbing into the car to drive back to the station. Alaw watched home disappear beyond the windows of the Hogwarts Express with a heavy heart and sat back in her seat, biting the head off a chocolate bunny and wondering grimly what she was riding back to.

The train squealed into Hogsmead station at around dinner time and Alaw grabbed her bag, eager to get back up the castle and eat. The sky was shot through with pink and the clouds which had blotted the Welsh skyline were nowhere to be seen. Wondering bitterly how Hogwarts seemed always to have stable weather whilst the rest of the UK huddled from near constant drizzle, Alaw hopped down from the Express and sauntered down the main street of the village with her bag over one shoulder. As she approached the Three Broomsticks, she spotted a few Gryffindors smoking outside.

"Alright Al?" called Dean, waving her over. "Where you been all week?"

"At home, what are you are doing out here? You're missing dinner."

"It's Lav's birthday, Hermione and them lot are inside if you want to join us."

After thanking Dean, Alaw ducked into the Three Broomsticks. It was very crowded inside, every table was packed with raucous locals and Hogwarts students alike. A group of the teachers were sitting in the corner, deep in conversation. Hermione, Ron and Neville were congregated around the largest table at the centre of the room, singing happy birthday to Lavender who had a cake in front of her. The song ended and everyone clapped as Alaw came over and Neville spotted her.

"How was home?" he asked once Alaw had dumped her bag on the only remaining seat.

"It was ok, pissed it down the whole time though. I'm starving, they still serving food?"

"Yeah, I'll come with you, I need a top up," Neville said and he accompanied her to the bar.

They swapped holiday news, which was limited, as they leant against the bar waiting to be noticed by Madam Rosmerta. She was busy taking orders from a couple of Hufflepuff boys, but when they received their drinks and moved away, their place was taken by the last person Alaw had expected, or wanted, to see. Snape slid into place, the sneer about his thin lips the only indication that he had noticed Alaw's presence. For her part Alaw scowled and placed herself between Snape and Neville, who had gone slightly pale upon seeing the Potions master. Alaw couldn't understand what Snape was doing there, she had never seen him in the village before, no less in the Three Broomsticks. She got the uneasy feeling that he was there to keep an eye on the Gryffindors.

"Soup of the day please, and a Gillywater," she said to Madam Rosmerta when the landlady looked at her inquiringly. "And what do you want Neville?"

It was a tense few minutes as Madam Rosmerta filled Alaw's glass and handed it to her before disappearing into the back to open a new barrel of Butterbeer for Neville. Alaw tried to hold a normal conversation with him but the presence of Snape on her left was making her skin prickle. Finally, Rosmerta came back and the two friends could leave the bar. Alaw was just hoping they would hurry up with her soup when she bumped headlong into Professor Quirrel, slopping some of her drink over him.

"Woah, sorry Professor!" she cried, mortified. The young man just stuttered assurances and patted her on the arm.

"N-not to worry, Jones, just a b-bit of drink eh?" he said with a nervous laugh, then went on his way to the exit. Cheeks still burning, Alaw sat down and took a swig of what was left of her drink.

"What's old Snape doing here? Thought he'd be busy setting Dementors loose up at the castle for his precious master." Ron asked, suspiciously watching as the man in question abandoned the bar and made for the door as well.

He was held up however by a large group of boisterous goblins who were blocking the way. Alaw opened her mouth to say something mean about Snape, but found she couldn't. He throat was oddly dry and she coughed and tried to take a breath, but the muscles tightened and restricted the air. Gagging, she dropped her glass which fell to the floor and smashed.

"Al? Alaw!" Hermione cried as Alaw, now purple in the face, toppled off her stool gasping and clawing at her neck. Everyone in the vicinity turned to stare and Hermione raised her voice shrilly,

"Help! Someone help her! She's been poisoned!"

Through all the shocked gasps and raised voices, Alaw vaguely heard someone – she though perhaps it might have been Professor McGonagall – calling Snape's name. A second later, a hand had closed around her neck and another was trying to force open her mouth. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she saw Snape's pale visage inches from her own. He jammed something down her throat and somehow she managed to swallow it. A few panicky seconds later she broke into a violent coughing fit, hunched over, and manged to take a very rasping breath.

Hermione dropped to her knees beside Alaw, taking no notice of the spilled Gillywater covering the floor, and hugged her friend tightly. Alaw, still shaking, just concentrated on taking huge gulping breaths. Quite a few people were clapping and congratulating Snape in low murmurs but Alaw glared up at her teacher. He looked down at her, his face unreadable, and yet in that moment she knew. It had been him.

 **Don't forget to read and review!**


	19. Chapter 18 - Exam Fever

Chapter 18

Examination Fever

Alaw left the hospital wing the next day with a very sore throat and a burning desire to talk to her friends. She had been whisked up to the castle by the very concerned knot of teachers who had been in the Three Broomsticks before she'd had a chance to talk to Hermione or the boys, and Madam Pomphrey had insisted on keeping her in overnight for observation. She'd identified the poison in about five minutes – Bloodroot – a difficult to brew potion, but commonly found on the black-market.

"If Professor Snape hadn't been there with the Bezoar, I don't know what would have happened," the matron said, shaking her head grimly.

In fact, Alaw knew exactly what would have happened if Snape hadn't been in the pub - nothing at all. It was very quiet in the castle's corridors as Alaw trotted along, it was a beautiful day and most people were out on the grounds or in the village. When Alaw glanced through a window she could see people dotted around on the lawn, with a few swooping through the air throwing a quaffle to each other. But she knew she'd find her friends waiting for her in her living room and sure enough, when she burst through the door, there she found them sitting on the sofas.

"How are you feeling?" Hermione asked anxiously, half rising from the armchair as Alaw kicked the door closed behind her.

"Fine," Alaw said quickly, though she winced as her throat stung. The Bezoar had done a lot of scraping when Snape had forced it down her neck.

"You don't half attract trouble Al," Ron said. "First you run into the Dementor – twice – then you wander into the Forbidden Forest under a trance – and now you get poisoned! Your luck it shit."

"Yeah well, I'm starting to think it's not all coincidence," Alaw muttered darkly.

"What do you mean?" Neville asked, puzzled. Alaw took out her wand and pointed it at the kettle hanging over the empty grate in the fireplace. The metal glowed red after a few seconds and started to boil the water within.

"I'm saying, I think someone is trying to bump me off, and I think I know exactly who," Alaw explained as she went to a cupboard and took out cups and a box of herbal tea. "It's Snape. I think he's Voldemort's servant at Hogwarts!"

The other three simply stared at her in bewilderment.

"Snape? But, Al, he saved your life yesterday," Neville pointed out tentatively but Alaw shook her head impatiently.

"Think about it, he was standing right next to us at the bar, he could easily have slipped the poison into my Gillywater. And I watched him try to leave but he got held up at the door, so when I started turning blue, he had no choice but save me, otherwise McGonagall would have torn his head off!"

"She makes a good point," Ron said seriously. "I mean what was he even doing at the pub in the first place? He never goes out with the other teachers normally. He must have been there to keep an eye on us."

"But why?" Hermione asked in frustration. "Why would he want to kill Alaw? It makes no sense!"

"Yes it does!" Alaw argued, nearly spilling the scolding water she was pouring into the cups on herself as she was so agitated. "He is the servant Firenze warned us about! He's the one who's been setting the Dementor free for his master this whole time. Think about it Hermione, he's one of those elitist Pure-blooded bastards, he's hated me from the start. So he helps his master terrorise the school, but then he hears we've been snooping around. I mean it's like Ron said, I've run into that damn Dementor twice now and I'm taking Patronus lessons and for some reason I keep hearing Voldemort's thoughts, so maybe Snape thinks I'm getting too nosy and now he's trying to get rid of me! And remember what Firenze said about Voldemort hunting me specifically? Maybe this is why!"

Alaw blew on her herbal tea and took a large gulp. It burned her sore throat on the way down but had quite a soothing effect right after. With another wave of her wand she levitated the other cups towards her friends and Hermione caught hers with a sceptical look on her face.

"That's a lot of maybes Al, you don't have a shred of proof. You can't just go and report Snape without any evidence."

"Don't be stupid, I wasn't going to," Alaw said fervently. "Remember what happened the last time I tried to get Dumbledore to listen to me? I've had enough of being told I'm being silly thanks."

"So what are you going to do?" Neville asked nervously. "Al, don't even think about trying to catch Snape at it! You'll get yourself killed!"

"I have no intention of going after him, all I want is to finish this year in one piece. I'll let the teachers deal with that monster and maybe they can catch Voldemort and Snape themselves."

Hermione and Neville looked relieved but Ron glanced around at them all in frustration.

"What? You're just going to let it go?!" he demanded incredulously. "The bloke tried to kill Alaw and he's already landed a bunch of people in hospital! Can't you just sneak into his office with the cloak and, I dunno, look for clues?"

"Don't be so ridiculous Ron," Hermione snapped, suddenly angry. "Even if Alaw was stupid enough to sneak into the office of someone she thinks is trying to kill her, it's not as if Snape has left his 'how to pull off a nefarious plot' handbook lying around is it?"

Alaw and Neville sniggered into their tea whilst Ron and Hermione glared daggers at each other.

"Forget it Ron," Alaw said before they could start arguing properly. "I do not want to get dragged into something like this. I'm just going to watch my back from now on and work on that damn Patronus."

And though Ron was deeply unhappy about it, Alaw was as good as her word. For the next few weeks she didn't so much as look at Snape during Potions classes, keeping her head bent low over her cauldron and never volunteering an answer whenever he shot revision questions at the class. Snape either didn't notice her strange behaviour or didn't care, because he left her alone for the most part. In fact it was probably only Draco who noticed the change in Alaw and only because they worked at the same station. He even went so far as to ask her what was wrong, quietly, so that Theodore and Pansy didn't hear him, but Alaw merely grunted and shrugged.

Now that term had recommenced, Alaw could continue with her Patronus lessons but they only served to frustrate her endlessly. Try as she might, she couldn't produce more than the odd puff of silver mist which was barely enough to annoy the ghoul. In the end she lost her temper with the task and blasted the ghoul back into its cupboard with a violent burst of red sparks.

"I think perhaps you need a little break," Lupin had said lightly as Alaw scowled and stuffed her wand back in her holster.

At night, Alaw tossed and turned in bed unable to sleep from the pain which racked her chest when the sun disappeared below the mountains. Whatever was causing her distress, it was always worse at night. Whenever she did finally manage to sleep, she dreamt of boxes, Dementors and Voldemort. One evening she felt such a terrible stab that she was jolted awake. She drew her knees up to her chest, whining like a wounded dog until the pain ebbed.

"Fucking hell," she murmured quietly.

Something had Voldemort in a foul mood that night, she could tell, he was frustrated about something. Feeling sweaty and uncomfortable, Alaw got out of bed and crossed to the window which she had open a crack to let in a breeze. She pushed it fully open and rested her elbows on the window pane, gazing out over the moonlit grounds. Why did she have this connection with Voldemort? What possible reason could she – an ordinary muggleborn with nothing more significant than an interesting lineage to her name – have for hearing the Dark Lord's inner most thoughts?

 _I'll bet Dumbledore knows_ , Alaw thought to herself. Yes, the headmaster struck her as someone who knew everything about everyone. She'd read up on the last wizarding war, she knew that Dumbledore had been an important figure in the fight against Voldemort. He'd even set up a special task force – separate from the Ministry – to bring down the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. Dumbledore probably knew that Voldemort wasn't dead at all, but alive and, uh, not exactly _well_ , but certainly capable of plenty.

Then it occurred to Alaw that Dumbledore wasn't the only one who knew things.

OoOoO

"Hagrid?" Hermione said curiously. "You think he knows something about the connection between you and Voldemort?"

It was the following day, and Alaw had found Hermione in her usual spot in the library, surrounded by a mountain of books. Sunlight was streaming in through the open window but Madam Pince refused to open it, despite the pleas of the students, in case a stray breeze disrupted her precious books. So Alaw sat there sweltering in her school robes and longing for muggle shorts and t-shirts.

"Well he did get awfully twitchy when we started getting interested in the Dementor, remember?" Alaw reminded Hermione, fanning herself with her half-completed Charms essay. "There was that whole business with Harry Potter, I mean what was that all about? What's so important about one kid?"

"I don't know," Hermione sight, wiping her forehead with her sleeve and flipping sluggishly through the book in front of her.

Alaw frowned at the book curiously. Most of the volumes on the table were battered copies of their text-books, all taken out ready for the exams. But the tome Hermione was pouring over didn't seem to be related to any of their subjects.

"What are you reading?" Alaw asked. Hermione bit her lip and glanced around before saying,

"Well, don't tell Ron and Neville, I know I said we should just get on with our lives and ignore all this Dementor stuff, but I just couldn't resist. Ever since you told me about this ceremony Voldemort is planning, I can't stop thinking about it! So I've been having a nose around the library to see if there's anything that can help explain what he's up to."

"Cool," Alaw said, impressed. In all honesty she had forgotten all about the ceremony in light of all the recent excitement. "Any luck?"

"No," Hermione sighed again. "I mean, there are literally hundreds of spells and potions that need to be prepared at a certain time of the year or month, and moon plays a part in a lot of old rituals. I've barely scraped the surface. Of course it would help if we knew what Voldemort was trying to achieve with this spell."

"Oh, that's a shame. If we knew then maybe we could go to a teacher without looking like complete tossers."

"I know. I did at least manage to work out when he's going to attempt whatever he's doing. The milk moon in the full moon of May. So we have until then at least."

"Just make sure you don't go killing yourself trying to work this out ok? That's supposed to be the Auror Office's job. We've got exams coming remember?"

Of course Alaw didn't need to remind Hermione of all people about this. She had already drawn up a little revision schedule for herself, colour coded and cross-referenced and everything. The teacher were also trying to hammer the point home every opportunity they got. They were wrapping up their course material and handing out practice exams, and before any of them knew it, their first year teaching period was over and the revision period begun.

It was odd to have so much work to do, and yet no classes to attend. April ended with Alaw's very last Patronus lesson, and it was just as crap as all the others.

"Expecto Patronum!" she cried for what felt like the hundredth time. Smoke sputtered from the end of her wand, hung in the air for a second, then faded. The ghoul pointed at her and laughed stupidly.

"That's enough out of you," Lupin said sharply, waving his own wand. The ghoul shot back into the drawer which closed behind it with a snap.

"It's not getting any better," Alaw said despondently, looking down at her wand. "Why aren't I getting any better?! I'm so crap as Defence."

"I'll admit it isn't your strong suit, no," said Lupin lightly, now levitating the chest of drawers back into its corner whilst the ghoul's muffled moans still went on inside. "But you aren't as bad as you think you are, trust me on that. Are you worried about anything at the moment? Sometimes that can make conjuring a patronus even more difficult."

Alaw bit her lip but didn't say anything. She had promised her friends that she would keep her mouth shut about Snape, but she wanted to tell Lupin so badly. Lupin would understand, he had listened when she recounted her fears about Voldemort.

"When – when I was poisoned," she began, haltingly. "We – I mean – I – wondered if – uh – oh never mind."

She couldn't get the words out, they would sound too stupid. Lupin gazed at Alaw for a while, apparently trying to decide whether or not he should press her to continue. In the end he sighed. He did that quite a lot, Alaw had noticed.

"You're still worried about Voldemort, aren't you?" he asked gently. "Are you still hearing his voice when you sleep?"

Alaw nodded and added,

"The pains are getting worse too. Hermione thinks he's planning something for the end of May, at the full moon."

Out of the corner of her eye, Alaw saw Lupin wince a little and she looked up at this with a curious frown.

"I'll pass on your concerns to the headmaster, as always," said Lupin. "Now I'm afraid Alaw this will have to be our last Patronus lesson, at least for this term. Your exams are coming up and I don't want to distract you from your studies. Just keep practising in your spare time and I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Try practising with Hermione, sometimes some support can help."

Alaw sensed the dismissal, and left.

It was quite amazing to Alaw that in the midst of the fear and craziness that came with having a resident Dementor in the castle, something as mundane as revision could drive it all from their minds. Alaw was no stranger to the exam fever of course, she and Hermione had been through their GCSEs and A Levels and knew the drill by now. But Ron, Neville and the other wizard-born students were going into this with no idea what to expect. Whereas the girls had trained themselves to sit still for hours on end, reading and re-reading notes, the boys didn't even know how to draw up the notes in the first place.

As they entered May, Hermione became impossible to talk to. She was like a highly sensitive bomb, who would go off at the slightest distraction. She and Ron had already fallen out several times, and it was all Alaw and Neville could do to keep them from killing each other. Hermione was a great believer in mind-maps, but Alaw preferred flash-cards and reciting her notes aloud to herself. She spent hours pacing around and around her room, or the Gryffindor Common Room, muttering under her breath the proper wand movement for the Lumos charm, or what year the Romans invaded the British isles and first introduced standardised spell-casting.

The warm weather began to fluctuate as it always did with the approach of the British summer. Some days they conducted their studies to the sound of pattering rain on the windows, sometimes they walked beside the lake in blissful sunshine and recited potion recipes aloud to one another. The one good thing that came from all this stress, was the fact that Alaw was too tired to lie away at night and suffer her chest pains. She now slept through them for the most part and hadn't heard a peep out of Voldemort in weeks. But then, just a few days before their first exam – Transfiguration – Alaw overheard something which brought Voldemort and his servant right back to the forefront of her mind.

She was on her way to return a book to the library when she passed by the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. The book was due that afternoon so she was in a hurry, knowing how touchy Madam Pince could be. But as she passed the door of the classroom which was open just a crack, Alaw heard sobs, and she paused, frowning. Someone was crying inside the room and taking sharp, juddering breaths. Concerned, Alaw slowly poked her head around the door to take a look. The room was empty but the door to the teacher's office was open at the far end of the room.

"P-please," came a whimpering voice. "Please, I can't do it again, I will be caught!"

It was Professor Quirrel, Alaw recognised his voice at once. Who was he talking to? Surely not Professor Lupin, Alaw doubted he could ever reduce a man, even Quirrel, to tears.

"I ca – can't!" Quirrel moaned again. "Please don't make me! I have not been given the dungeon watch again, they will suspect!"

The door of the office suddenly closed then, and Alaw could hear no more. Utterly bewildered and more than a little worried, Alaw shuffled off down the corridor again. Then she checked her watch and swore under her breath, breaking into a run. She made it to the library just in time and nearly slammed the book down on the returns desk in front of Madam Pince.

"Be careful!" the librarian hissed, glaring at Alaw who apologised breathlessly and went in search of Hermione and the boys. They weren't in the library though, no doubt they had gotten bored. Alaw eventually tracked them down in the Great Hall with a few of the other Gryffindors.

"Guess what I just heard," Alaw said when she'd wedged herself between Ron and Neville – the space beside Hermione being too filled with books to sit on. She quickly and quietly recounted what she had overheard and the others looked surprised.

"Snape," Ron muttered at once. "It had to be! He wants to release the Dementor again and he's trying to get Quirrel to sneak him past the Aurors when he's next on duty!"

"Oh Ron," Hermione snapped, "There's absolutely no proof of that, Al didn't even hear Snape's voice did you Al?"

"No," Alaw said slowly. "But – it was well weird. And what if Ron's right? What if Snape is trying to give it another shot?"

"Excuse me!" Hermione said angrily just as Ron opened his mouth to agree. "I thought we had all agreed not to get involved in this again. Didn't we all agree this is the Aurors' job to sort out, not ours? Didn't we say we were going to concentrate on our exams now?"

Ron, Alaw and Neville looked at their shoes and grumbled under their breath. Hermione glared at the three of them.

"Good, now Neville, test me on the proper way to prune a Flitterby bush."

With Hermione's firm telling-off ringing in her ears, Alaw tried her best to put the matter out of her mind, even though she couldn't help but look worriedly up at the staff table at meal times. Was it just her imagination, or did Quirrel look ill and more jittery than usual? And was Snape looking happy about something? Glancing towards Quirrel more often than was strictly necessary? The potions master caught Alaw staring at him a couple of times and she had had to bury her head in a text book to avoid his gaze.

Before she knew it, she was sitting down for her first exam. The first years took their exams first, before the rest of the school and unlike the older years they sat in their classrooms instead of the Great Hall. Some of the teachers took pity on them and cast temperature control spells in their rooms to spare them the heat of the sun, but others weren't so kind. Potions in particular was a nightmare. It was like being in an oven, sweating over their cauldrons as they tried to remember the proper way to brew Forgetfulness Potions.

Snape swept between the stalls and breathed down their necks to make them uncomfortable. Alaw nearly messed up her potion completely by forgetting to take it off the heat in time. She only remembered because she saw Draco do it and she rushed to lift the heavy pot away before the potion spoiled. Draco, utterly indifferent to the heat and the proximity of a teacher, breezed through the exam and looked cool as you please, unlike poor Neville who went completely to pieces and ran from the room crying before the exam had actually ended. He had needed quite a bit of comforting from Alaw, Ron and Hermione who had found him after the exam curled up on his bed, moaning that he was a complete failure and should just leave school that very afternoon.

Alaw could sympathise with Neville for the very next day was their Defence Against the Dark Arts exam and she felt like she was going to throw up as they waited outside the classroom, clutching their notes and muttering counter-curses. The morning was devoted to the written exam, which Alaw was not worried about in the slightest. She knew exactly when the Unforgivable Curses were made illegal – 1717 – and what the proper way to cast the Protego charm was – a swift swish from lower left to upper right, or the opposite for left-handed casters.

But what really got her was the practical exam. They were asked to come in individually to spare them the embarrassment of an audience and cast their spells as a dummy which creaked and clanked around the room in a crude imitation of an opponent. Alaw utterly lost her cool and could barely produce any of the spells Lupin asked for. He stood to one side trying not to look anxious whilst the external examiner stood beside him taking notes on a clip-board. The only spell Alaw was happy with was her shield charm which was strong enough to make the examiner stagger. Alaw left the room feeling like crap.

There were only two exams Alaw was not worried about, Charms and History of Magic, and they were their final two before term officially ended. She walked the History of Magic exam and could barely cram in all she knew about the creation of the International Statute of Secrecy, making her hand cramp up painfully. The Charms paper was a doddle too and finally, there was only the practical to go. Like Lupin, Flitwick called them all into his office individually according to their surname. Hermione went in first of their group and came out looking like a huge weight had been taken off her shoulders. She refused to tell them what Flitwick had asked though.

"That's cheating, Ron," she said sharply. "I'm going down to Hagrid's for a drink. See you later, good luck!"

Alaw was called in not long after. Professor Flitwick was sitting at his desk and he smiled when Alaw came in and closed the door.

"Sit yourself down Alaw," he said kindly, indicating the chair before the desk. Alaw sat. Here too there was an external examiner with a clipboard, sitting a little way away, but Alaw tried to ignore him.

"Now then Miss Jones, I'd like you to demonstrate the Lumos Charm first," said Flitwick, his eyes twinkling. He knew the Lumos charm was one of Alaw's strong suits.

All in all, it was the best exam Alaw had taken. She ended the practical by making every object in the room, including the examiner's chair, levitate a few inches off the ground. She lost control of none of the objects and set them all back down with gentle thuds.

"Excellent Alaw, very nicely done," Flitwick said, clapping his hands once and beaming. "You may go. Please send in Mister Longbottom."

And with that, she was free. Alaw practically skipped down to Hagrid's hut where she found the game keeper and Hermione sitting in the garden with tall glasses of iced pumpkin juice.

"To freedom!" Ron toasted once he and Neville had joined them an hour later.

It was late afternoon and the grounds were warm and full of first years also celebrating the end of their exams. Alaw leant back in one of Hagrid's enormous deck-chairs, her legs swinging back and forth as she drank deeply.

"Bet you anything I flunked Defence Against the Dark Arts," she sighed, closing her eyes and taking in the sun.

"Will you stop that?" Ron said crossly. "I thought we agreed, no speculating!"

"I definitely failed Potions," Neville said miserably. "I don't think I can face doing this year again! But Gran'll insist."

"You did not fail anything!" Ron insisted. "You said you nailed the theory paper!"

"No, I said I did ok. I got lucky, there was some Herbology on there."

"Don't worry Nev," Alaw called with her eyes still closed. "With any luck, Snape'll get caught playing with the Dementor and won't get a chance to fail you."

 _CLANG!_

Alaw nearly jumped out of her skin and looked around sharply to see that Hagrid had dropped the BBQ he'd been negotiating out of the garden shed.

" _What_?!" he gasped, staring at them all.

"Oh, shit. It's nothing Hagrid, really. Alaw just thinks Snape tried to poison her and has been setting the Dementor loose in the castle for You Know Who. No big deal," said Ron.

Hagrid continued to stare.

"No big deal?" he repeated faintly. "I thought I told you lot to keep out of all that nasty business!"

"We did!" Alaw protested. "Been good as gold we have, haven't done a thing about it since Firenze gave us that warning. The Snape thing is just a theory and don't worry, I won't be acting on it anytime soon."

Alaw turned back to face the grounds again and added,

"Besides, how much damage can Voldemort do anyway? He's barely a ghost, according to Firenze. Just wish the Auror office would get their arses in gear and catch that damn Dementor before – what's wrong with you?"

Hermione had gasped and clapped a hand to her forehead. She looked beside herself with excitement.

"I just had an idea!" she cried. "Al, where's the You-Know-What?"

Alaw frowned and Hermione rolled her eyes before mouthing ' _cloak_ ' at her.

"Oh, it's hiding in the loose floorboard under my bed, why?"

"I need to borrow it, I need to check something in the library."

And with that Hermione set off at a sprint back towards the castle, her satchel flying behind her and her robes rippling about her legs.

"Hey!" Neville shouted after her. "What about dinner?! I thought you were going to show us what hot-dogs are!"

But Hermione just shouted something incomprehensible over her shoulder and was gone in a flash.

"What's gotten into her then?" Ron asked, bewildered. Alaw shook her head and took another sip of juice.

"God knows, looks like I'll have to show you how to make a proper hot-dog. Hagrid, you got any beer in the house? I could murder a pint."


	20. Chapter 19 - Reading List

**Chapter 19**

 **Reading List**

 **Author's Note – Thanks once again to my loyal reviewer Toraach. We're nearly at the end of this particular story, so most (though not all) will soon be revealed. Unlike Harry, Alaw doesn't blindly trust Dumbledore after his mishandling of her situation with Theodore Knott. And as for her Patronus, Defence Against the Dark Arts was never once of her strong suits.**

 **.**

The sun was beginning to set by the time Alaw, Ron and Neville bade goodbye to Hagrid and his overly-crispy sausages and started making their way back up to the castle. Hermione had not re-joined them so they assumed she had been in the library the whole time, forgetting, as she often did, to go and eat something. It had been a relaxing afternoon and as they crossed the Entrance Hall, Alaw yawned hugely.

"Tomorrow, do you two want to go down to the lake for a bit? I reckon the weather's going to hold so we might be able to swim."

"Sure, we'll invite the other Gryffindors, make a day of it." Ron agreed.

His eyes fixed on something over Alaw's head and he frowned, stopping mid-stride. Alaw turned and saw Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore standing halfway up the marble staircase. To Alaw's great surprise, McGonagall was wiping her eyes on a handkerchief and Dumbledore had a hand on her shoulder. He was saying something in a low voice, but then he caught sight of Alaw and the boys and he paused. Alaw had never seen him look so grave.

"Miss Jones, there you are," said McGonagall thickly. "Mr Weasley, Mr Longbottom. You need to come with me."

"What's happened?" Alaw asked, a nasty feeling crawling over her skin. She and the boys hurried up the stairs to join the teachers.

"Please, follow me. I'd rather not excite the other students," said McGonagall, casing her gaze over the rest of the people milling around the Entrance Hall, making their way to the village or coming in from the grounds. Everyone was discussing the end of exams with relief, making loud plans for the rest of their free time, but they left all that behind as they climbed the stairs higher into the castle.

"Professor, what's going on?" Alaw asked again, trotting to keep up with the huge steps of the witch and wizard. It was still warm, the dying rays of the sun were streaming through the mullion windows and Alaw felt a bead of sweat running down her back beneath her robes. She heard McGonagall sniff.

"You'll need to prepare yourselves, there had been another attack. The creature somehow slipped past the guards again. Here."

They had reached the archway to the hospital wing. Dumbledore pushed open the doors and stood aside to allow the students inside. Only one bed was occupied, right at the back beneath one of the windows where sunlight fell onto the pillow. When Alaw saw who lay there, as motionless as a corpse but with her eyes wide and staring, her hands flew to her mouth as she uttered a small scream.

"No," she breathed.

"Hermione!" Ron moaned.

"Please, no," Neville groaned.

But it was Hermione. Madam Pomphrey was bending over her whilst Cornelius Fudge and Rufus Scrimgour stood to one side. Alaw ignored them all and ran to Hermione's side, clutching her hand to her chest. It was strange, but Hermione's hand was warm, and her chest rose and fell a regularly as it would when she was sleeping. But her eyes were wide and blank as they stared up at nothing.

"How could this happen?!" Alaw whimpered. "Why?!"

The boys joined her and Neville dropped to his knees beside her to put and arm around her shoulders.

"We found her outside the library, half an hour ago," Dumbledore explained. "The creature appears to have fled without a trace. Do you know what she was doing in the library at this hour?"

Alaw and the boys shook their heads, still unable to take in the horror of what they were seeing. Their friend was effectively dead. There was a sigh from Fudge who checked his pocket-watch.

"I suppose she'd will need to be moved to St Mungo's as soon as possible. There's nothing more to be done here. The Auror office will collect her possessions to catalogue them as evidence."

"Should I write to her parents, or will the Ministry?" asked McGonagall and Fudge made an uncomfortable noise.

"She's muggle-born this one, isn't she? Tricky business, I don't think we should inform the family just yet. We'll take the same approach as we did with the first victim. Dumbledore, these student have five minutes then I want them back in their dormitories whilst we conduct a fresh search."

The Minister and Sgrimgour began walking towards the exit and Alaw, who had raised a tearstained face from her arms at his words, stood up.

" _OI!_ " she shouted, and the two men paused, looking back in astonishment. Alaw strode towards them, her face alive with rage. "You can't be serious?! You have to tell her parents!"

"It is not up to you, missy, to tell me to do anything," said Fudge tartly and he began to walk away again but Alaw walked forward and grabbed his arm, squeezing it tightly.

"Now you listen to me you pathetic little man," she hissed at a very shocked Fudge. "You've let this happen to my friend in broad fucking daylight! You've pissed about all year and you're no closer to finding the Dementor. You'd better contact her family at once or I'm going to ram my boot up your useless backside!"

Her voice had risen with every word she spoke until she was screaming at Fudge. McGonagall reached forward to pull Alaw away from the Minister who looked very shaken. He looked from the seething Slytherin to Dumbledore.

"Albus, you need to have more discipline with troublesome students like this one," he said sharply. "I will not be threatened! I am the Minister of Magic!"

"Yeah that's right, run away like you always do Fudge!" Alaw shouted as the Minister left at a brisk pace. "Just like you to be scared of a little girl!"

"Miss Jones, get a grip on yourself!" McGonagall cried scoldingly. "I understand that you are very upset but this is no way to behave!"

Alaw was visably shaking as she glared after Fudge. In an attempt to control her temper, she took a deep breath and flexed and unflexed her fingers.

"Sorry Professor," she said in a quavering voice.

Then she burst into tears. She couldn't believe how unfair life could be. They had just finished their exams, Hermione was going to end the year at the top of the class and just a few minutes ago they'd been planning to go swimming! Now she was gone and the Ministry didn't care, because she was muggle-born. McGonagall guided Alaw to a spare bed and sat her down gently.

"Oh you poor lass," the older witch sighed. "Just take a moment, you've had a big shock."

"We'll sit with her, Professor," said Neville, and he and Ron plonked down on either side of Alaw who was breathing jerkily and trying to stem the flow of tears.

"We need to go and talk to the Minister. Professor McGonagall will be back shortly to escort you to your rooms," said Dumbledore. He looked pityingly at Alaw, before leaving them to it.

"Hey," Ron said gently, embracing Alaw. "Shush, it'll be ok."

"No it won't!" Alaw wailed. "It's not f-fair! Why Hermione?! She never hurt anyone!"

They stayed on the bed for several minutes. Eventually, Alaw managed to hiccup herself into silence and she gazed hopelessly at Hermione in the bed opposite. Then she suddenly stood up and took the boys by surprise.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked sharply as Alaw grabbed Hermione's bag, which was sitting on the chair beside her, and started to rummage through it.

"The Aurors are going to take all her stuff as evidence, I need – there it is!"

Alaw withdrew her invisibility cloak, which had been bundled up at the bottom of the bag. She quickly stuffed it under her own robes and crossed her arms to hide the bulge. McGonagall came back to get them soon after and they walked in gloomy silence up to Gryffindor Tower. After dropping the boys off outside the portrait of the Fat Lady, student and teacher paused before the door to Alaw's room.

"I'm so sorry Alaw," McGonagall said gently. "I know Miss Granger was your best friend. Rest assured that we will do everything we can to catch this monster, and prevent this from happening again."

Alaw nodded, sure she would choke up if she opened her mouth, and turned to unlock her door. Inside was dark because the windows faced east rather than west. Alaw pulled the cloak out and chucked it onto the table, before dropping onto the sofa to cry some more. Why had Hermione run off like that? How had the Dementor made it all the way to the second floor when the castle was full of students and teachers?

 _Snape_. The name slithered into Alaw's mind and she scowled darkly. He must have smuggled the thing upstairs. Then he had come across Hermione in the library, alone, without any witnesses. Perhaps he had attacked her purposefully to spite Alaw, or had she merely been convenient? And _why_? Why did Voldemort need the souls in the first place? What was the point?!

Feeling drained, Alaw got up from the sofa and put her hands over her face. Then she went to pick up the cloak, thinking she should probably hide it again under the bed. The garment unfolded itself and the hem fell to the floor when Alaw grabbed it, and then a piece of parchment fell from the folds and floated to the ground. Alaw swooped to snatch it up and she frowned as she recognised Hermione's handwriting. It was a list of books, and for a moment Alaw thought it was just an exam reading list, until the titles caught her eye.

 _Magick Moste Evile_

 _Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charms_

 _Secrets of the Soul: An Advanced Guide to the Habits of Dementors_

And then the fourth volume on the list had a sharp circle drawn around it, and an exclamation mark inked after it.

 _Lunar Rituals of the Ancient Britons_

And beneath that, a page number, _462_.

"I know that book," Alaw muttered to herself.

Abandoning the cloak in a puddle on the floor, she bounded towards her bookshelf and knelt down. She found the tome she wanted at once, _Magic in Pre-Roman Britain: Druidic Practises and Lore_. After jamming the reading list between her teeth, Alaw sat back on her heels and flipped through the book until she came to the chapter about Lunar Rituals. This was a very short chapter, as very little was actually known of these rituals without any written sources from the Druids themselves.

But right at the end of the chapter there was a reference list and there, at the very top was _Lunar Rituals of the Ancient Britons_ , by Owle Bullock. There was also a warning in brackets, saying this book was highly controversial and you needed special permission from the British Magical Historical Society to view the only two copies in existence. One was in London, in the society's archives, and the other was at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Go Hermione," Alaw sighed appreciatively.

Whilst they had been lounging around outside Hagrid's all afternoon, she had been chasing up a possible lead on Voldemort's plans. And this was why she had needed the cloak, to sneak into the restricted section. That also explained why Hermione hadn't simply checked the book out and brought it to show to them. Alaw stood excitedly but did it too quickly and ended up having to sit back down woozily. So what did she do now? Did she go to Dumbledore or the Aurors with this? Or did she go and check it out herself? She chewed her fingernails undecidedly and fidgeted. There was no harm in going to look at the book before rushing to interrupt the search.

All was quiet in the castle when Alaw ventured out with the invisibility cloak draped over her and the slip of parchment tucked safely into her belt. She supposed all the students had been taken back to their common rooms and she passed by the portrait of the Fat Lady without pausing. She would rouse the boys only when she was sure she had an actual lead. The only teachers Alaw encountered on her way to the library were Professor Babage and Flitwick who were walking along the second floor corridor, patrolling the scene of the crime. Alaw edged along the wall before ducking under the velvet rope the Aurors had set up and slipping into the library. For once, Madam Pince was nowhere in sight and Alaw managed to slide the bolt on the Restricted Section with no problem.

Despite all the long hours Alaw had spent in the library over the past year, she had never actually been into the Restricted Section before. One needed a signed permission slip from a teacher just to enter, and books certainly weren't allowed to be checked out. Only the fourth years studying advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts ever used these tomes, or visiting scholars writing academic articles. Alaw suspected that each book had a tracking jinx placed on them, to prevent anyone from removing them from the library. It was dark in this section of the library, because sunlight could harm some of the older volumes and therefore the windows had been bricked up.

After closing the doors quietly behind her, Alaw lit her wand and wandered along the shelves. There was a shelf reference beneath the title on Hermione's list and eventually, Alaw came to the correct section. After sticking her wand between her teeth, she climbed the step ladder and pulled down Lunar Rituals of the Ancient Britons. Then, when she was back on the ground, Alaw encountered the same problem Hermione had. She couldn't take the book with her, she didn't even know if there was anything relevant in it. Perhaps she should flick through it here, just in case in was a dead end.

So, Alaw settled herself cross-legged on the floor, propped her wand on the nearest shelf, and opened the book. The pages were only slightly yellowing, so it must have been one of the library's younger additions, but there was a bright pink post-it note sticking out half way through, which must have been Hermione's doing. Alaw turned to the chapter it indicated, her heart beating a little faster than usual, and began to read.

 _Chapter 10 – The Ritual of the Souls_

 _This little known ritual is perhaps one of the darkest attributed to the ancient Britons. Some scholars believe it predates the advent of the Celts on these isles and dates to the prehistoric societies they displaced. As the ritual requires the use of a Dementor or a similar being, it can be argued that it could have originated the moment these creatures appeared here. Whatever its origin, our best account of the spell comes from a roman source, a wizard in the first invasion of Britain led by Julius Caesar in 55BC._

 _The wizard, whose name was Titus Flavius Sabinus, wrote his account on his return to Rome after he served as a Legionnaire under Julius. He describes a skirmish between his Legion and a local tribe called the Trinovantes, in the area near present-day Colchester. Sabinus was captured during the battle, however as he was of magical descent he was not executed but taken hostage by the chief, herself a powerful sorceress. She – Sabinus neglects to provide us with a name – was mortally wounded in the battle by his own curses. Her own people's medicine could not save her, and so she turned to drastic measures._

 _The tribe had in its possession, a Dementor, which they had captured and kept trapped inside a dead oak tree. Other sources from the period describe the Celtic practise of trapping Dementors and other dark creatures, believing them to be the evil spirits of angered trees and brooks. They believed that once captured, the spirit would protect their settlements from other, less powerful creatures such as pixies, hinkypunks and Kelpies._

 _When Sabinus was a captive of the Trinovantes, he witnessed what he later termed 'the ritual of the souls'. The tribe's captive Dementor was set loose upon seven virgins, male and female, who had been specially chosen as a sacrifice for the gods. Once the Dementor had consumed their souls, the creature was recaptured and the souls extracted using an enchantment – the original words spoken can be seen in the transcripts at the back of this volume. Once extracted, the souls were placed in crystal or glass bottles._

 _The bottles were placed in a circle at the full moon of May, now commonly termed the Milk Moon by potioneers and herbologists. When the Moon was in the optimum position, the clan leader stood at the centre of the circle and recited another spell or prayer – again the words in Latin can be seen in the transcript. The leader was restored to full health, her body healed, and subsequently Sabinus was ransomed back to his legion._

 _Though not an entirely reliable account, Sabinus does reveal some intriguing possibilities. The ceremony he describes seems to have the same effect as the drinking of unicorn blood, for the clan leader was described as being 'cursed by the gods' thereafter, feeling neither warmth nor comfort. This is, unfortunately, the only verified account of this ritual, though there are hints to it in other Roman sources, and one native Welsh source written in the fifth century, though the translation is disputed by many. For ethical reasons, the ritual has never been attempted under modern scrutiny, however my own theoretical research has led me to believe that it would be an effective way to restore subjects who were close to death in a far more permanent manner than the consumption of unicorn blood._

The section concluded with an exact copy of the Legionnaire's account in the original Latin, with notes from the translator. Alaw, who didn't know a word of Latin, let the book fall forward onto her knees as she gazed at the bookshelf opposite her.

"Hermione, you're a bloody genius," she muttered to herself, both impressed and wildly panicked.

They finally had an answer to the question they had been asking all year. It was simply really, but only someone who had studied the dark arts and obscure Celtic rituals would know about this sort of thing. Like Voldemort. Like _Snape_. Alaw jumped to her feet, letting the book fall to the floor with a thump. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, turning this way and that as she tried to work out what to do. She had to tell somebody, but who? If she just burst out of the library now with a restricted book in hand, she would be in a hell of a lot of trouble. And then there would be rows, arguments, wasted time.

Alaw swooped to snatch up the book and replace it on the shelf as quickly as she could without damaging it. There was no point trying to leave with it, she'd raise every alarm in the library. After adjusting her cloak to make sure she was still invisible, Alaw left the restricted section and slipped out of the library proper. The teachers were gone, so Alaw jogged all the way back to Gryffindor tower where she found a very disapproving Fat Lady.

"You are supposed to be in your room young lady," she reprimanded when Alaw popped into view. She made no comment about the cloak, apparently being a portrait at Hogwarts got one used to that sort of thing.

"Flibbertyjibbet," Alaw snapped at her without bothering to apologise. The Fat Lady rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I really shouldn't be letting you in here, you aren't even in Gryffindor!"

"Come on god damn it, this is an emergency!" Alaw growled.

The affronted Lady swung open with much muttering under her breath and Alaw jumped into the common room which was emptier than she'd expected. It would appear the Gryffindors were closeted away in their individual dorms and the few people who were in the living area looked around in surprise when Alaw sprinted across the carpet and vaulted up the stairs to the boys dormitories. Alaw found her friends in Neville's bedroom, which was weenie when compared with her own but furnished in handsome scarlet hangings.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Ron cried as Alaw burst through the door without knocking and came to a sharp halt before the four-poster, gasping for breath and clutching a stitch in her side. It was a moment before Alaw could speak, she held a finger up to the bewildered boys and bent over, wheezing.

"Her – Hermione, is a bloody genius!" she eventually managed to say.

She proceeded to explain, as succinctly as possible, what she had discovered and by the end, Neville had jumped to his feet and Ron looked pale.

"He's going to come back?!" he said weakly. "You Know Who is going to come back and he's using Hermione's soul to do it?! That is sick! And you think this is going to happen tonight?!"

Alaw pointed out of the window at the now darkened sky.

"The milk moon, the full moon of May, that's tonight! That must be why Snape risked going to snatch Hermione, he was running out of time!"

"What are we going to do?!" Ron asked, aghast.

"We have to tell Professor Dumbledore, right now!" Neville said before Alaw could open her mouth. She had never seen him look so determined about anything and neither she nor Ron felt like arguing.

"Where's his office though?" Ron asked as they dashed back down the stairs. Alaw snorted.

"I'll show you, I've been there enough times, come on!"

As they crossed the common room and made for the portrait hole, Percy rose from one of the arm chairs.

"Ron, where do you think you're going?" he demanded. "You can't leave the Tower!"

"Shut up Percy, this is important!" Ron snarled.

Once they were outside, Alaw threw the cloak over all three of them to stop Percy from following them, as he attempted to do a moment later. The older Weasley burst out of the portrait hole and looked wildly around.

"Ron! Come back! It's not safe!" he shouted, a look of panic on his face.

But his quarry were already moving away as fast as the cloak would permit. Though large, it was still a tight squeeze underneath with all three of them, especially since Ron was very tall. Alaw was fairly certain their feet were visible, so once they were on the Grand Staircase they dispensed with secrecy and Alaw tied it around her neck again. They met no one on their way up to Dumbledore's Office, which struck Alaw as odd until she realised they all must be in the dungeons, searching.

The three of them slid into the corridor and nearly fell over before scrambling towards the Griffin statue guarding Dumbledore's Office. They were within spitting distance when Professor McGonagall appeared from around the corner and Ron was unlucky enough to collide with her. He bounced off and crashed to the floor whilst the elderly witch threw out an arm to grab the Griffin and steady herself.

"Weasley!" she cried, looking very shaken but perfectly furious. "What do you think you're doing, idiot boy?"

"Sorry Professor," Ron gasped, looking mortified and allowing himself to be hauled to his feet by Alaw and Neville. McGonagall looked over them angrily.

"Why are you three not in your common rooms? This behaviour is simply unacceptable! Five points from Gryffindor and Slytherin!"

But Alaw had never cared less about house points in her life.

"Professor, we have to talk to the headmaster right this moment," Alaw said firmly. "We've found something he really needs to know about! It's to do with the Dementor."

McGongall turned her flashing eyes on Alaw, her lip extremely thin.

"Professor Dumbledore has been called away to London. The Wizengamot wishes to discuss his handling of the situation this year."

It couldn't have been plainer from her tone of voice what McGonagall thought of that summons. Alaw felt panic jump in her heart and her eyes darted from McGonagall to the Griffin over her shoulder. Dumbledore was gone?! The one time they actually needed him and he was gone! Alaw tried to rally from the shock.

"Ok, Professor Lupin, where is he?"

"Professor Lupin is unwell, he is in no fit state to speak to anyone. Why don't you tell me what this is all about Jones?"

Alaw nearly pulled out her hair in frustration. McGonagall wasn't her first choice of a person to seek help from, or even her second. She was a very capable witch but she didn't exactly invite confidence when one was jumpy and frightened. What if she didn't believe them? But then Alaw glanced out of the window and saw the full moon beginning to rise over the lake. This was no time to worry about looking foolish.

"Ok, this is going to sound crazy but you have to believe me! Voldemort is the one behind these attacks."

Alaw had been right to worry. McGonagall, usually so stoic and tough, gave a gasp which bordered on a small scream and her hand flew to her throat. She stared at Alaw and said,

"Don't be so ridiculous Jones. The Dark Lord is dead! He's been dead for nearly twenty years."

"He's not dead!" Alaw cried angrily. "He's alive! He's alive, but weak, and he's right here in the castle. I told Professor Dumbledore this weeks ago but he wouldn't listen. I saw him in the Forbidden Forest drinking unicorn blood to stay alive. And now, he's collecting seven souls to use in a ceremony which will restore him to power! And he's going to do it tonight! When the moon is full and in position! Please believe me!"

For a moment there was silence as Alaw breathed heavily and gazed imploringly at her teacher. Ron and Neville stood behind her with their eyes darting between the two witches tensely. Eventually, McGonagall took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Miss Jones, you have had a very big shock today, I understand you may be a little shaken. But you aren't making any sense girl! Even if the Dark Lord was alive, you say he is weak! How is he supposed to have released a Dementor in these halls, completely undetected, and then bring it back under his control? He wouldn't have any magical ability under the circumstances you describe."

"I – he – there's an accomplice!" Alaw said, trying desperately to avoid having to name the culprit. McGonagall scowled.

"Now you are merely being foolish. An accomplice indeed. No, I'll hear no more about this. The castle is being searched top to bottom as we speak, by teachers and Ministry officials alike. Professor Snape has even taken charge of the search in the dungeons, he knows them better than any person living and I assure you that this time, we will catch the Dementor. Now I am taking you three back to Gryffindor Tower where you will stay, do you understand me?"

"Why won't you listen to me?!" Alaw shouted furiously. "We are you all so blind?!"

But it was no good, they shouted and pleaded and argued until their throats were sore, but all they did was infuriate Professor McGonagall. She swept them all before her with her wand out threateningly. The students stomped along, their faces dark but their hearts full of anguish. They were in sight of the Fat Lady's portrait when Alaw slowed her pace just enough to let the others pull ahead of her. Then she pulled up the hood of the invisibility cloak and vanished without a word.

She turned and marched back towards the stairs, her heart thudding with fear but resolute in her purpose. No one knew the dungeons better than Snape, no one alive. So she'd just have to find someone dead.

The entrance to the Dungeons was being guarded by a couple of Aurors, but neither even turned their heads when Alaw marched right between them and descended the steps. Then it was just a left turn, past the potions classroom and down the torch lit corridor to the familiar blank stretch of wall. Alaw thanked her lucky stars she kept track of the password in her diary.

"Veritaserum," she whispered.

The wall shuddered open and she hopped inside before anyone came to investigate. The Slytherin common room, unlike Gryffindor Tower, was quite full. Most of the sofas and armchairs were occupied and when the hole in the wall opened, seemingly for no reason, many people got to their feet.

"What's it doing that for?" asked Blaise Zabini suspiciously, though there was an edge of fear to his voice. Everyone stared at the opening.

"Who's there?" Theodore Knott called, raising his wand.

Alaw wended her way carefully between the Slytherins over to the window where Draco Malfoy stood beside Blaise, Crab and Goyle. She took up position behind him and waited until his friends had ventured forward cautiously to investigate before grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back.

"Don't make a sound," she breathed in his ear, pressing the tip of her wand against the back of his neck. Draco, who had only flinched and gasped quietly, went utterly still.

"Walk to your room, open the door and let us both in. Don't look at anyone, unless you want to be vomiting slugs for the rest of the evening."

Draco did as she commanded, walking slowly out of the common area and down the winding corridor to his bedroom. Alaw kept her wand trained on him as he withdrew his own and unlocked the door. Once inside, Alaw kicked the door shut with her foot and whisper-shouted,

" _Expelliarmus_!"

But her spell didn't work. Draco's wand twitched but didn't go flying out of his hand. Draco rolled his eyes.

"Hello Jones," he said boredly.

Alaw hesitated, then threw down her hood to wink back into sight.

"How did you know it was me?" she asked in surprise.

"Only you would cast such a pitiful counter-jinx. Stick to charms, it's what you're good at. Now what the hell do you think you're doing here?"

Alaw huffed and glanced around to make sure they really were alone. Draco's room was much like himself, neat and unassuming. There were a few posters on the walls of Quidditch teams, some revision charts much like the ones Alaw still had tacked up in her room and some wizarding photographs. The place smelt a lot fresher than most boys' rooms Alaw had even been in, like mint mouthwash rather than sweat or overpowering deodorant.

"I need your help, and don't sneer just shut up and listen," Alaw said rapidly. "I need to talk to the Bloody Baron but I have no idea where to find him and you seem pretty pally with him from what I remember."

"Pally? Hardly," Draco scoffed. "He came looking for us, remember? Anyway, why do you need him so urgently? He's dead, it's not like he's going anywhere."

"This is really important!" Alaw cried. Why was everyone determined to piss her off that evening? "This is life and death, it's to do with the De – uh, the monster attacking people. I think the Baron might know where it's hiding. He knows everything that goes on in the Dungeons, he knew to come and get us when Penelope Clearwater was attacked."

Draco frowned at her, but in a more thoughtful way.

"I – suppose," he said slowly. "But if he does know where to find it, why hasn't he gone and told Snape yet?"

"Because it's like you said before Christmas, he only talks to true Slytherins, and Snape isn't a true Slytherin. He's the one whose been setting the monster lose all year."

"What?" Draco laughed. "Snape? You're mad mudblood, utterly mad."

"Oh for fucks sake!" Alaw growled. "What is wrong with you people?! Just help me, please! All you have to do is help me find the Baron and then your part is done, I'll deal with the rest myself, ok?"

There was an agonisingly long pause as Draco looked her up and down, apparently finding her urgency amusing. He made a show of tapping his chin with his finger thoughtfully.

"I don't know," he said slowly. "What's in it for me? Why shouldn't I just open that door and shout for everyone to hear that a mudblood got into the common room?"

Alaw opened her mouth to make a threat of some sort, but just bent over and pressed the heel of her palms into her eyes in distress.

"Please!" she begged. "Please, Hermione will die if I don't get to her in time! They'll all die! There's a chance to save them, please Draco I am begging you! I'll do anything, _anything_!"

It seemed to work. Draco sighed huffily and frowned.

"Oh alright you big baby. It's just no fun torturing you when you go all pathetic and weepy instead of angry. The Baron is probably clanking around the old store room downstairs."

"Thank you!" Alaw cried in relief. "Thanks, you're star."

"Do you need me to come and show you the way?" Draco asked in a mocking baby voice. Alaw grinned and unclipped the cloak.

"If you'd be so kind, come here, it should hide us both."

"What, under there, with you?"

Draco looked disgusted but Alaw clucked her tongue impatiently and motioned for him to come over. With great reluctance, Draco approached and Alaw threw the cloak over both of them.

"Uch, you better not infect me mudblood," he grimaced and Alaw rolled her eyes.

"I'll try not to," she muttered.

Once back out in the common room, Alaw was glad to see the Slytherins hadn't closed the hole in the wall yet. They were arguing amongst themselves over what to do, many with their wands pointed towards the opening. It was easy for Alaw and Draco to shuffle past them and out into the corridor. They moved slowly towards the small staircase which led to the lower dungeon, slowly because Draco kept trying to avoid touching Alaw and kept making the cloak slip off him.

"Oh for god's sake, stop being such a pussy!" Alaw hissed, adjusting the cloak for the hundredth time. "I'm not actually diseased! I can't believe you actually believe that shit, you give the impression of being mildly intelligent!"

"One can't be too careful," Draco growled. "Nice invisibility cloak by the way, where does a mudblood like you get one of these?"

"It was a present, and stop calling me that!"

They went along in grudging silence for a while. Up close, Alaw realised how short Draco really was, about her own height. His breath tickled her neck in such close quarters and he smelt faintly of some sort of apple perfume, or maybe it was his hair-care potion. An Auror went past them at one point at they had to press up against the stone wall, sucking in their bellies unnecessarily. After he was gone, Alaw decided to ask the question she'd been wanting to ask all year.

"Why do you treat me like crap, Draco?"

"Because you are crap," Draco answered, though it popped out of his mouth so quickly it sounded automatic. Alaw paused and then asked quietly,

"Do you actually believe that?"

"It's not a belief, its fact. Mudbloods are mongrels, you have filthy muggle blood and you don't even know anything about the wizarding world. You can dress it up all you like, you're muggles in wizard robes."

There was another pause as Alaw weighed this in her mind. She had never actually talked to a pureblood about this before. She and Hermione had often mulled over the question of racism in wizarding society, but the why of it all had always escaped her.

"So, its muggles you have the issue with?" Alaw concluded after a while.

"Yes, muggles are vile. They're ignorant and brutish, they drove the wizards into hiding."

"I guess you have every reason to hate them then, that all sounds very sensible."

"What, you're agreeing with me?" Draco said in surprise, apparently thrown by her calm reaction.

"Of course, muggles are vicious and ignorant. We pollute the planet, we start wars, we cling to racial hatred, that's all true. But do you know why we do that? Because we're human, just like wizards. We're all the same."

"Oh no we're not! Wizards are not the same as muggles!"

"But they are! Draco, we're all the same species. You've got to face the fact that wizards are just as evil as muggles because they're both the same race! Hermione says I'm a cynic but that's just the way I see things. You and I, we're the same."

"But wizards are more evolved," Draco argued, though now he sounded a little doubtful. Perhaps her attitude was not what he had been expecting at all. Alaw laughed.

"Ok, so you think that if our roles were reversed, if wizards outnumbered muggles, wizards would be any different?"

From the corner of her eye, Alaw saw Draco scowl as he struggled to find an argument. Alaw sighed.

"You don't always have to think what your family tells you to think you know. Anyway, is this it?"

They had reached a wooden door with cobwebs all over the handle and hinges. There was a rattling noise coming from inside, like chains being dragged across the floor. Draco nodded and threw off the cloak so he could pull the door open with some difficulty, the hinges shrieked in protest. Hoping no one had heard that, Alaw slipped in after Draco and blinked from the light emanating from his wand. Over in the corner, the Bloody Baron was floating with his back to them. He seemed to be muttering something to the wall. Suddenly feeling quite nervous, Alaw ventured a few steps towards him.

"Um, Baron, sir," she began, her mouth rather dry. "We've come for your help. We're in a lot of trouble."

The Baron didn't answer, he continued to mutter as though he was having a completely different conversation. Alaw glanced at Draco for help but he merely shrugged as if to say, 'this is your idea'.

"Baron, please, there is something hiding in the dungeons. You came to warn us about it before Christmas. You know everything that happens in this place, you must know where it is now. Please!"

Slowly, the Baron turned to face them. He was truly the most horrible ghost at Hogwarts. His robes were spattered with silver bloodstains and there was dark bruising around his neck. It only just occurred to Alaw at that moment that he had been hanged.

"You seek the Dementor, or rather, its master," he rasped. Draco's head snapped up and he stared at the Baron and then at Alaw.

"Dementor?" he said sharply. "What is he talking you about? You never said anything about a Dementor!"

But Alaw flapped a hand at him to shut up, keeping her gaze fixed on the Baron.

"Yes, I need to find them before it's too late. The moon might already be in position, the ritual will be starting soon. Do you know where they are?"

The Baron considered her for a moment.

"You are a true Slytherin, Salazar would have favoured you," he concluded. _I seriously doubt that_ , Alaw thought privately. "I will show you the way to the creature and its stolen bounty. But no others, I help only those of the noble house of Slytherin. There are trespassers in my dungeons whom I would be rid of."

This was a bit of a blow to Alaw, who had been hoping to run for help the moment the Baron had agreed. She checked her watch and was horrified to find it was nearly midnight. She had no idea when the ritual may start, she couldn't pass up this chance.

"Of course sir, but we must hurry!" she said.

The Baron inclined his head and began to drift forward until he passed through the wall. Terrified of losing him, Alaw dashed back through the door in time to see him emerge and start to float away down the corridor.

"Come on!" she cried, and she grabbed a reluctant Draco by the sleeve and dragged him after her.

"Jones, are you sure this is the best idea?" he hissed at her as they followed the Baron deeper and deeper under the school, taking passages and staircases Alaw would never have guessed were there without guidance.

"It's the only way! You heard him, we can't get help."

"You lied to me, you knew it was a Dementor the whole time! Sneaky cow."

 _Oh if only you knew what else I'm not telling you_ , Alaw thought. With her plan to fetch help out the window, Alaw had no idea what she planned to do. She was a terrible dualist, how was she meant to take on Snape, Voldemort and a Dementor all by herself? But maybe she didn't need to take them on, maybe all she had to do was steal the soul containers and hold up the ritual. The book hadn't been too clear on what the containers looked like, or how everything would be arranged other than 'in a circle'. She just had to hope for the best.

Down and down they went, into the very bowls of the castle. Stonework was falling away to be replaced by carved rock. Alaw had had no idea the dungeons extended this far and one had to wonder what it was all for, even the torch brackets were becoming rare. Finally, they came to a dead end. The Baron stopped in front of an archway with nothing but rock beyond it. There was green slime growing on it.

"Your quarry is through there," the Baron said, pointing at the archway. "The illusion will fall away as you approach and thereafter you shall find a tunnel leading to chamber. Here I leave you, fair fortune Song of the Mountain."

The Baron rose up and vanished through the ceiling. Without his glow, everything grew very dark, even with their wand tips lit.

"Song of the what?" Draco asked, puzzled and Alaw shrugged.

"Don't look at me, Firenze called me that but god knows what it means. Are you coming with me?"

"What?! After a Dementor? You must be joking!"

Alaw had been expecting that, but it didn't make her feel any more comfortable about plunging into the unknown all on her own. She bit her bit then looked back the way they came.

"Look, I need you to do something for me," she said urgently. "I need you to raise the alarm. Do you think you can find your way out and then back here?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"Well try, just bring the Ministry lot here as fast as you can. Don't bother with Dumbledore, he's not here."

"Alright, I'll try," Draco sighed. He looked at the archway dubiously and then arched an eyebrow at Alaw. "Good luck. You're not so bad, for a mudblood."

"Thanks, you're not so bad, for a Malfoy," Alaw said, trying to sound braver than she felt.

Draco nodded stiffly then left, climbing back up the stairs, turning right and disappearing. The sound of his footsteps soon faded away and Alaw was truly alone, with nothing but the archway for company. She turned to face and rocked on the balls of her feet. _Come on_ , she thought to herself, _if you think about this for much longer you'll end up not doing it, just go!_ Alaw took a breath, pulled up her hood, and stepped forward with her wand at the ready.

 **Thanks for reading, give us a review and tell me what you thought.**


	21. Chapter 20 - The Man in the Dark

**Chapter 20**

 **The Man in the Dark**

 **Author's Note – Thanks for the review as always. I did promise more Draco scenes. I don't think he would have gone down with her, that would be too out of character.**

Just as the Baron had said, the rock wall evaporated like steam as Alaw drew nearer and the only thing she felt as she stepped through was a slight tingling sensation in the tips of her fingers. She was now in a passage with a floor that sloped down, lit dimly by the same floating candles which dotted the Great Hall. Their dancing lights threw frightening shadows on the walls and ceiling and Alaw paused again, trying to swallow her fear. It was bitingly cold down here and her breath rose in a mist before her, warming her nose briefly before dissipating.

She tried not to slip on the moss covered floor as she picked her way slowly down the passage. Despite the cold, the palms of her hands were sweating and she had to keep fiddling with the grip on her wand. This was insane, what was she thinking?! She'd be dead in ten minutes flat if she tried to take on Snape! She should have gone with Draco to get reinforcements. Twice she stopped and nearly turned back, but both times she checked her watch and imagined what Snape and his master might be doing to Hermione's soul right that second. There was no time to be afraid. There was a strange prickling pain in her chest which worsened the deeper she went. It felt just like the stabs she'd endured whenever someone was attacked near her, or during her Voldemort nightmares.

The passage eventually levelled and came to an abrupt halt, making Alaw flinch and stop dead in her tracks. Down a wide set of stairs there was a kind of pit, lit by torches at regular intevals around the walls. Off to one side, there was a wooden chest banded in iron but Alaw barely spared it a glance as her eyes were drawn at once to what was at the centre of the room. Seven glass balls, arranged in a circle and floating at about chest height. Six were glowing an eerie blue, but the seventh, and the closest, was dark. Hardly daring to breath, Alaw peered around the pit and then at the alcoves along the top of the stairs. There wasn't a single person in sight, no Snape, no Voldemort, and, thankfully, no Dementor.

Alaw wasn't quite sure what to do now. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but it certainly hadn't been an empty room. Where was Snape? Tonight was the Milk Moon, he ought to be here. Perhaps he had been held up upstairs by the Aurors. Cautiously, Alaw ventured down the steps, one at a time, and then went over the closest glowing ball. There was a strange whispering sound coming from it and on impulse Alaw reached out to brush it with the tips of her fingers. At once she heard a jumble of words all shouting over each other, reverberating around her skull. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she recognised the tone alright. It was Hermione. Careful not to step inside the circle, Alaw examined all the other balls and heard the voices of the other missing souls.

 _Maybe I should just take them and go_ , Alaw thought to herself. This seemed very straightforward, too easy perhaps. As she reached again for Hermione's ball, Alaw heard the sound of approaching footsteps and she snatched her hand back in fright. Across the circle, someone was approaching and as they appeared at the top of the stairs, Alaw froze. It wasn't Snape. It wasn't even Voldemort. It was _Quirrel_. Hardly daring to breath, Alaw edged away towards the exit, just in case she needed to make a quick get away, and watched as the young Professor pointed his wand towards the dark ceiling. He muttered a spell and there was a sudden clanking, groaning noise. Alaw looked up and saw a trap door was opening slowly to reveal a circular hole. Moonlight spilled down the hole and illuminated the circle, each of the glass balls marking its circumference.

Alaw was just wondering frantically what she should do when Quirrel spoke.

"I'm so glad you could join us Miss Jones."

There was strong gust of wind that caught Alaw in the face, blowing her hood down and making her wink back into sight. She gave a frightened gasp and raised her wand in a trembling hand as Quirrel turned to face her. Whilst she was shaking from head to foot, he looked perfectly at ease. His twitch was gone, as well as his stammer.

"It was you?!" Alaw spluttered incredulously. "You all along, but we thought, Snape?"

"Severus," Quirrel laughed. "Yes I suppose he didn't do himself any favours by being so menacing. Very convenient for me really, for who would suspect p-poor st-tutering Professor Quirrel?"

"But he tried to poison me over Easter!" Alaw insisted doubtfully but Quirrel laughed again.

"No, no, no my dear girl, _I_ tried to poison you. Don't you remember? When you bumped into me, I slipped the poison in your drink. Severus was there to keep an eye on me, he suspected me by then you see. Lucky for you he was so paranoid, otherwise you'd be dead and out of the way."

As Alaw struggled to digest this, Quirrel took a step towards her around the circle and she backed away hastily. Too hastily in fact, her feet hit the bottom step and fell backwards onto them.

"But why?!" Alaw cried as she scrambled back to her feet and tried to keep her wand steady. "Why have you done this?! Hermione and the others never did anything to hurt you, why are you helping Voldemort?"

Upon mentioning his name, Alaw's eyes began darting around the room and into the shadowy alcoves. Where was Voldemort? He couldn't walk like a man, he was barely a ghost. Then her gaze fell on the wooden chest again but Quirrel tutted and drew her attention back to him.

"They are merely a means to an end, there are always casualties in war. Collateral damage as I believe the muggles call it. And as for why I serve the Dark Lord, well isn't it obvious? I was lost, a foolish young man with grand ideas, but then I found him on my travels in Albania and he showed me the truth of it. There is no good or evil, those are childish notions, there is only power."

Alright, Quirrel had lost his mind, that much was obvious. Alaw desperately wanted to help her friend but she couldn't see any way to do that without getting herself killed. She had to run for it. But she barely made it two steps before a fire burst into life above her, blocking the passageway. Others erupted along each of the alcoves and Alaw threw up an arm to protect herself from the heat of the flames.

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave?" Quirrel asked mockingly. "You did such a fine job of finding your way here, following the trail I left for you. I knew you would come to save your mudblood friend and all she needed was a little prompt from me to find the right book, or did you think it was mere chance?"

"You are completely insane!" Alaw cried. "You can't bring Voldemort back! He'll destroy everything!"

In desperation, Alaw shot a curse at him but it was weak and fizzled out as it hit his shield. Quirrel burst out laughing.

"What was that supposed to be?" he cried gleefully. "Merlin's beard, Remus must be a terrible teacher. Now, that's enough theatrics from you. Expelliarmus!"

Alaw's wand went flying off into the corner and she watched it ark away in despair. She felt horribly naked without her wand and she was certain she was about to die.

"Don't look so sad, mudblood, you're going to be part of something beautiful. As you can see, we lack a seventh volunteer for the ritual," Quirrel gestured to the last glass ball. "And the Dark Lord has had his eye on you all year."

"Why?" Alaw asked incredulously. "What is so damn special about me?"

This time Quirrel stared at her in surprise, cocking his head to one side.

"You don't know?" he asked eventually. "But surely Dumbledore will have told you, no one could be so interfering without knowing the whole truth."

Alaw blinked at him and Quirrel frowned. Then the pain in Alaw's chest rose dramatically as an eerie, bone-chilling voice echoed about the chamber.

" _I would speak with her_."

Alaw and Quirrel both flinched and as Alaw looked wildly around for the source of the voice, Quirrel looked frightened for the first time.

"Master," he began tremulously. "Master, you are not strong enough."

" _I have strength enough for this_!" the voice hissed.

Quirrel sighed. The he reached up and began to unwrap his turban carefully, like a worshipper unveiling a holy relic. Alaw watched in bewilderment as he removed the turban and revealed himself to be completely bald beneath it, but then her blood turned to ice and she gave a tiny scream of horror as he turned his back to her and revealed what was sticking out of the back of his skull. A face, a most terrible face, with scarlet eyes, a flat nose, and a grimacing, thin lipped mouth.

"My dear mudblood," Lord Voldemort hissed. "I'm so pleased to finally see you with my own eyes. Your meddling this year has forced me to keep a closer watch on my servant."

"What's happened to you?!" Alaw whispered, feeling quite sick but unable to stop staring at the gruesome features.

"This? You happened, Alaw Jones. I see Dumbledore has foolishly kept you ignorant of certain details. Like the fact that when I attempted to kill you as an infant, you reduced me to this state. Only unicorn blood has sustained me thus far, but the ritual tonight will restore my magical abilities fully, and Quirrel has bravely volunteered his own body to be my vessel until I acquire one of my own."

"It is an honour, to be chosen thus," Quirrel said, though he sounded terrified.

Alaw couldn't believe what she was hearing, it sounded like pure madness. She wasn't anything special, how could there be an entire aspect of her life she had never been aware of?! It was hard to concentrate now that her heart was throbbing so painfully upon seeing Voldemort with her own eyes.

"But – but, what?!" she spluttered. "When did you try and kill me?!"

"The day you were born!" Voldemort snarled. "But you were protected, somehow, and my curse rebounded. You are the reason I have been in this state for close to two decades! I will take great pleasure in using your soul to restore myself. I knew you would be here at Hogwarts this year, but when Quirrel informed me of your sorting, I could hardly believe it. You're very existence is an insult, but to place you in Slytherin! Dumbledore will be the first to pay when I am myself again."

"Master!" Quirrel cried suddenly. "The moon is nearly in position, we must hurry!"

"Of course," Voldemort purred, eyeing Alaw who was rooted to the spot without a single plan. "Release the Dementor, no doubt it will be eager to give young Alaw here a little kiss."

Quirrel strode quickly towards the chest and Alaw lost her head completely. She ran over to where her wand lay on the floor and made a dive for it. But even as she did, the temperature in the room plummeted, extinguishing the candles. Her fingers were inches from her wand when something grabbed Alaw by the ankle and dragged her away, her belly scratching on the rocky floor. Alaw screamed and kicked but her captor flipped her onto her back and she looked up in horror at the Dementor. This close two, she could smell its foul breath rattling around inside the dark hood.

"No! Stop! Stop it!" Alaw sobbed, trying to scramble away but the Dementor grabbed hold of her neck with one of its disgusting hands and pinned her to the floor.

Gagging, Alaw fought against it, the slimy, wet skin feeling vile against her own but the Dementor was freakishly strong. It barely seemed to notice as she clawed and writhed. She began to feel lightheaded from the lack of air and something about the Dementor was sapping her strength until each kick was weaker than the last.

"You'll do well not to struggle," Voldemort told her, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "It will all be over soon."

With its free hand, the Dementor was drawing back its hood to reveal its eyeless face, and the sucking hole it had instead of a mouth. Alaw pressed her hands over her own face and squeezed her eyes shut, trembling violently and mewling in terror.

 _God, if you're listening, please help me_ , she thought desperately, even as the Dementor seized her wrists and began pulling them away slowly. _Please give me the strength to escape!_ But there would be no escape, for a second later the Dementor had seized her chin and a handful of hair and clamped its jaws around her mouth. Alaw felt the breath being drawn out of her, and something else, something like warmth. She felt it traveling up from her chest, up her throat and out of her mouth.

 _I'm going to die_ , she thought dully. Even as she flung out an arm and her fingers found the handle of her wand, she didn't have the will left to summon up a protective spell. She would never see her mother and father again, never spend another Christmas with the whole family, never know what it was to meet a man who loved her with all his heart.

 _I suppose I could give it one last go, though, I am a Slytherin after all._

She tried to think of something happy, and she clutched at the memory of sitting in the front room at home, surrounded by all her aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents. She pictured the Christmas tree over in the corner, her mother clattering around the kitchen making mince pies, her father getting ready to take her for midnight mass. If she didn't manage a spell right now, she would never see any of them ever again.

"Expecto Patronum!" she choked out.

Something brilliantly bright and silver erupted from the tip of her wand and a second later the Dementor was flung away from her body. The Patronus pursued it up to the highest point of her the ceiling where the creature clawed and shrieked. And this was no weakling shield of shimmering mist, a true patronus, solid and fierce. It was a dragon.

"No!" Voldemort cried incredulously, furiously, as the dragon proceeded to tear his Dementor to shreds.

Though she felt close to passing out, Alaw forced herself to her feet. Quirrel was looking up at the fight on the ceiling, howling at the Dementor to fight back, so it was Voldemort who saw Alaw coming.

"Quirrel, the mudblood!" he shrieked but even as Quirrel turned, Alaw collided with him.

She rugby tackled him to the floor and wrestled with him for his wand. After much shouting and swearing, she managed to tear it from his grip and throw it with all her might into the flames blocking the passageway.

"You filthy parasite!" Quirrel roared, throwing Alaw off him furiously. Alaw scrambled up and kept her own wand trained on him.

"Not so scary without a wand are you?" she snarled. Then her eyes fell on the floating glass balls and she snatched the nearest up. The whispering voice sounded somewhat like Ernie McMillan, and there was hopeful note it. Quirrel's eyes narrowed.

"Jones, if you dare…" he said quietly and he took a step forward but Alaw held the ball away from her body and he froze.

"You wouldn't," he hissed.

Alaw gave him a spiteful smile and dropped the ball.

"No!" Quirrel howled, but even as he lunged the glass shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. Smoke rose from the sherds and swirled around Alaw's legs before rushing towards the passage.

Without hesitating, Alaw ran around the circle knocking the balls to the ground and smashing each in turn. Quirrel snatched at the smoke as it swirled around them but it slipped between his fingers.

"You little fool, what have you done?!" he wailed, crouching over the last few pieces of smashed glass.

"Kill her! Kill the mudblood! End her!" Voldemort roared.

Quirrel turned a tortured yet deranged face towards Alaw who didn't raise her wand fast enough before he was on her. He reached for the wand with one hand whilst clawing at her eyes with the other. He was much stronger than her, so Alaw threw the wand away before he could grab it. Not to be defeated, Quirrel wrapped his hands around Alaw's neck and squeezed as tightly as he could. Alaw tried to kick him but he straddled her chest and jammed his knees on her wrists, trapping her.

"You – have ruined – everything!" he hissed, his purple face inches from Alaw's own. "It was – all –going – perfectly! Why did you have to come along and meddle in things that don't concern you?!"

Everything was going black for Alaw, she couldn't get a breath into her crushed windpipe. But even as her vision blurred, something very strange began to happen. The pain in her heart redoubled, until it felt like it was going to burst and if she could have screamed she would. And then she started to glow and Quirrel suddenly let go of her with a yell of pain. He fell backwards and rolled around on the floor, clutching at his face and screaming in agony.

"My hands! My face! Master help me!" he wailed.

"The girl! Kill the girl!" was all Voldemort shouted.

Alaw lifted her head slightly and watched in horror as Quirrel's skin cracked and burned right before her eyes. He seemed to be dissolving from the inside out and great wafts of foul smelling steam was coming off him. His mouth collapsed in and all he could do was make horrible gargling noises until a few seconds later his crumbled into a pile of ash and robes. And then there was silence. The only light came from the moonlight and Alaw's fading patronus. It flew down to her side like a faithful dog before vanishing completely. Alaw let her head fall back onto the rock and coughed in a few breaths.

"Help," she tried to call but it came out no better than Quirrel's gargle. It was no use, darkness was creeping in at the edge of her vision and Alaw surrendered herself to it. She was so tired, after all.

o

The first thing Alaw became aware of after that was a feeling of great warmth and peace. She was lying somewhere very comfortable, covered in a heavy blanket. But not long after this she realised she was too hot, owing to the sunlight beaming directly onto her. With a disgruntled noise, she shifted her position and opened her eyes slowly. Everything was blurred at first, but then objects came into sharper focus. First she saw the end of her hospital bed, and the back of her chart hanging on the metal frame. Beyond that were a few more beds lining the opposite wall, a medicine cabinet and then sitting right next to her on the visitor's chair was Professor Dumbledore.

"Right on time," he said jovially, checking a large, golden pocket watch. "Minerva owes me two sickles, she wagered you'd be asleep for at least another hour.

"Wassapened?" Alaw asked groggily, or at least she tried. Her throat seized up painfully around the words and Alaw sat up quickly, putting a hand to her neck. But this only made her head spin and she fell back on her dozen or so pillows with a groan.

"Please, don't exert yourself or Madam Pomphrey will have me thrown out," Dumbledore warned. Then he reached for a glass on the bedside cabinet. "Here, drink this, if you can, it will ease the pain."

Alaw took the beaker and gulped the sticky contents with some difficulty. It tasked like honey, but the tingling sensation it gave as it slid down her throat told her it was actually a potion. When she was finished, Dumbledore took the beaker out of Alaw's hand and she tried to speak again, carefully.

"What happened? Are Hermione and the others ok? Where's Voldemort?"

It didn't hurt this time, but it did tickle.

"You will be pleased to hear that Miss Granger and the other victims of the Dementor awoke in St Mungo's intensive care ward three days ago," Dumbledore said with a smile, his eyes twinkling. "May I say, you have made all the staff very proud. Professor Lupin in particular, when he heard about your Patronus."

"How did you know about that?" Alaw asked, perturbed, though immensely relieved to hear about Hermione.

"Only a fully corporeal Patronus could have killed the Dementor, and we found its remnants when we came to investigate. It was lucky that I had returned from London the very moment young Mr Malfoy came bursting out of the dungeons, shouting about how you were in danger. He was quite beside himself."

Alaw found that hard to believe and she squinted at Dumbledore, wondering if he was pulling her leg. She also noticed that he had failed to answer her second question.

"Did you catch Voldemort?" she asked again. "And what happened to Quirrel?"

Dumbledore sighed and looked at Alaw sadly.

"We did not apprehend Lord Voldemort, and Professor Quirrel is dead."

Alaw's hands clenched together on top of the blankets and she could suddenly hear Quirrel's dying screams inside her head. She shuddered.

"Did – did I murder him?" she asked, stricken, and Dumbledore reached out and put one of his own hands over hers.

"No," he said soothingly. "No, you did not murder him Alaw. It was an accident, brought about by his own arrogance. You have nothing to be ashamed of, you saved your friends! You stopped the Dark Lord from regaining his powers."

This didn't make Alaw feel much better. A man was dead and by her own hand, even if it had been an accident it was still her fault. Dumbledore didn't seem to understand her pain, or maybe he did, but in any case he quickly changed the subject.

"Did Voldemort speak to you, down in the chamber?"

"Yes," Alaw mumbled, looking down at her clasped hands but glancing up at Dumbledore swiftly a few times. "He – he told me…things. Things you haven't."

"Yes, I feared he might," Dumbledore said grimly. "Well, I suppose there is no keeping it from you now."

"So he did try and kill me when I was a baby. Why?! What was so special about me? Was it just because I was a mudblood, or,"

"Do not use that term," Dumbledore said sharply. Then he paused, and then went on in a softer tone. "The Dark Lord has killed many witches, wizards and muggles, and sometimes it was merely for his own pleasure. He also sought out many a muggle-born over the years, but his attack on you was different. I had observed that during his rise to power, Voldemort occasionally targeted young children, often before they were even born, and these were not random acts of evil, but calculated, carefully planned. Before you, he had killed six other infants in this manner, all from magical families. You were to be the first muggle-born he had hunted thus."

"Harry Potter…" Alaw murmured, the memory floating back to the surface of her mind.

"Yes, he was the final victim before you came along. Harry was only a year old, the son of two members of my own organisation fighting Voldemort. We tried to protect them once we learned that Voldemort was hunting them, but our information came too late, and they were dead before proper protection could be put in place."

"But why?" Alaw asked desperately, "What was special about Harry Potter? And me, and the others?"

"I don't know," Dumbledore said and Alaw flumped back on the pillows, frowning. Then her eyes flicked back to the head master.

"So what happened? Why couldn't Voldemort kill me? He said it was my fault he lost his powers, but how could I do that if I'd only just been born?"

Dumbledore smiled this time. He looked quite pleased with himself.

"I did not know it at the time, I was quite as baffled as everybody else, but after doing some research of my own, I believe I know the answer. You see, at the time, I was not aware of your curious ancestry. You are aware of course that you are descended from an ancient line of Druids?"

Alaw nodded.

"To understand what happened eighteen years ago, and again in the chamber, you must know some history. The Druid lines in Wales died out sometime in the tenth century, not long after Hogwarts was founded. They had been diminishing slowly for a thousand years after suffering at the hands of the Romans. So great was the bloodshed that one tribe took desperate measures and used the strongest magic they knew of, love magic, to protect their offspring. This is why Voldemort did not anticipate such a thing, for he scorns love magic."

"What did the tribe do?" Alaw pressed, not really interested at that moment about Voldemort's scorn.

"In 60AD, when the Roman's bore down on their stronghold of Anglesey, they performed a mass human sacrifice. The adult witches and wizards of the tribe committed ritual suicide, placing a powerful protection on their children, and all their decedents. Until their children reached the age of majority according to the society in which they lived, they could not be killed. Any who tried, would find themselves dying in their place. So you see, when Voldemort performed the killing curse on you when you were a baby, it rebounded onto himself. And when Professor Quirrel attempted to strangle you, the protective charm activated again."

Alaw stared at him for several moments without saying a word. She couldn't think of anything to say anyway. Finally, almost as an after-thought, she asked,

"So…how long have I got until the spell breaks?"

"Until you come of age, which in the wizarding world is twenty-one. Voldemort does not know this, he now believes that you are protected indefinitely, and I think it best not enlighten him, don't you?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and Alaw gave a fervent nod.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" she asked indignantly. "When I started Hogwarts, why didn't you tell me?"

"I should have, I see that now. I saw no way for Voldemort to return to power and therefore it seemed pointless to make your first year any harder than it has already been."

"But what will happen now? Voldemort is still out there, he's weak but he can manipulate people. What if he tries this again?"

"Then we shall stop him again. He may return to power one day, but all we can do is strive to delay him as long as possible. If we hold him up long enough, perhaps he shall never return."

The clock outside the Hospital Wing began to chime and Alaw jumped, startled. It rang three times, then stopped. Dumbledore rose to his feet.

"You need to rest, Madam Pomphrey has prescribed you three further days in bed and woe betide any who disobey her. I'm sure your friends will be along in due course to congratulate you and when you are discharged we shall have our end of term feast. You'll be wanting to celebrate a Slytherin win for the house cup with your housemates no doubt."

As the headmaster walked away towards the exit, an idea occurred to Alaw and she called after him.

"Hey, Professor? Can I ask you a favour?"


	22. Chapter 21 - School Ties

**Chapter 21**

 **School Ties**

 **Author's note – And finished, just checked when I published and it was nearly a year ago! The story continues in Book Two so if you're not sick of Alaw yet then I suggest you follow the link. Thanks so much for sticking with me this far, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought.**

 **s/12117895/1/Hogwarts-Chronicles-Book-Two-Druid-Legacies**

As Dumbledore had predicted, Alaw got a flurry of visitors over the next few days. At first, Alaw hadn't wanted to see anyone after Madam Pomphrey had handed her a mirror and she'd seen the true extent of the damage done to her by Quirrel. Her neck was a patchwork of purple and yellow bruises and before the Matron had done her magic, her windpipe had been completely crushed. But with doses of potion three times a day and more lozenges than Alaw had ever had in her life, her voice was beginning to come back to her.

The first people to drop in on her were Hermione, Ron and Neville, and they didn't so much drop in as crash in. Alaw had been attempting to eat some cooled soup when the doors to the Hospital Wing had flown open and the three of them had come running towards her. First to throw their arms around her was Hermione, who had tears in her eyes.

"Thank you!" she sobbed. "You saved us! Thank you! We were so worried when you didn't wake up on the first day, they wouldn't let us in to see you!"

"We brought you a ton of sweets," Ron supplied, upending the paper bag he was holding and dumping the contents into Alaw's lap. "Look, there's a bit of that Honeyduke's fudge, the creamy one? Thought it would help with your throat, you know?"

"You have got to tell us what happened down there," Neville said anxiously. "All we've been able to get out of Malfoy is that you went after the Dementor!"

"I'm going to kill the cowardly little toe-rag for letting you go down there on your own," Ron growled.

So Alaw told them, and she didn't hold anything back. She told them about facing off with Quirrel and the Dementor, about Voldemort telling her about his previous attempt on her life, and what Dumbledore had told her about the protective charm. Her friends didn't interrupt but by the end they all looked shocked and impressed.

"Wow," Ron said appreciatively. "You were like a super baby!"

Besides her friends, who barely left her side for the next few days, Alaw was visited by some of the people she had freed down in the dungeons. Ernie McMillan and Hannah Abbot turned up with a huge bunch of yellow daisies from the greenhouses to thank her, and Flora and Camron dragged up a disgruntled Hesita with them one afternoon. Penelope Clearwater brought a box of mint chocolates which Alaw devoured in no time. Pansy Parkinson did not make an appearance, but Millicent Bulstrode shuffled into the Hospital by herself late one evening. She didn't look Alaw in the eye, she merely looked at her feet and mumbled something along the lines of 'thank you'.

One of her less enjoyable visits came from Rufus Scrimgeour. He interrupted a game of chess she'd been having with Ron, limping down the aisle with a grim look on his face.

"Would you lot give us a moment?" he asked, casting an eye over Ron, Neville and Hermione. They looked at Alaw questioningly and she nodded to show she'd be alright. Once they'd retreated outside the doors, Scrimgeour sat down in the visitor's chair Ron had just vacated.

"First of all, the Ministry would like to express its gratitude for your assistance in this matter, Miss Jones," Scrimgeour began. "The Minister apologises for not telling you this in person, but he has an important press conference to attend."

 _Yeah, or he's afraid I'll kick his arse_ , Alaw thought with a satisfied smirk.

"I've already taken a statement from Professor Dumbledore, as you were unconscious. The Dementor has been destroyed so there is really nothing left to do on that account. As for Quirrel, well, we'll be releasing his ashes to the family this afternoon. Dumbledore has already explained how his death came about, and his story has been verified by a reliable historian, so no charges will be pressed on you. We'll try to keep your name out of the press."

"What about Voldemort?" Alaw asked and Scrimgeour smiled at her in a rather annoying way.

"Ah yes, Dumbledore did mention this. Miss Jones, you may rest assured that the Dark Lord was not involved in this matter. Quirrel was clearly deranged, his were the deluded actions of a madman."

"What?" Alaw said in disbelief. "But he was working for Voldemort! I saw him down there!"

"He may have believed he was working for the Dark Lord," Scrimgeour corrected. "But that is preposterous of course. No doubt he was very convincing."

"But I saw Voldemort!" Alaw insisted, now getting quite angry. "He was possessing Quirrel!"

"Miss Jones, you have had a very trying experience, I'm sure once you've recovered you'll realise how silly you are being," Scrimgeour said infuriatingly.

Alaw opened her mouth to angrily, but then she closed it again. There was no point arguing with these people. She scowled but nodded and Scrimgeour sighed.

"Good girl, now, I'll need you to sign this."

He took a sheaf of parchment out of the sleeves of his robes and handed it to Alaw who looked at it suspiciously.

"What is it?" she asked, unfolding it to find three pages of tiny text.

"A non-disclosure agreement," Scrimgeour explained. "We've decided it would be best to keep the involvement of the Dementor out of the papers. We're releasing a statement to the press naming Quirrel as the culprit of the attacks, and that he was using a paralysis curse on the victims."

"You can't be serious," Alaw said incredulously, the audacity of this too much for her accept.

"I am perfectly serious," Scrimgeour said menacingly. "The public cannot know that a Dementor was to blame! Can't you see how damaging the backlash would be? Faith in the Azkaban system is the bedrock of the safety of the wizarding world! You wouldn't understand, you're too young, but sometimes it is necessary to keep things from the public for their own good! Now, sign."

He held out a quill and Alaw glared at him defiantly for a second, before snatching it from him and signing her name at the bottom of the dossier. Then she thrust it and the quill back at Scrimgeour with a mutinous expression. When he left, his maroon auror's robes swishing behind him, Hermione and the boys came back in.

"What was all that about?" Ron asked. Alaw didn't answer at once, she was chewing her bottom lip thoughtfully.

"Hermione," she asked sweetly. "Would you be a peach and lend me a quill and some parchment. And Neville, would you mind delivering a letter for me?"

The following evening Alaw was discharged from Hospital by a dubious Madam Pomphrey. The bruising around Alaw's neck had begun to fade and it was no longer painful to speak, but the Matron still gave her a dozen vials of honey potion for her to take every night before bed. Ron, Hermione and Neville weren't with Alaw because today was the day their exam results came out and they were waiting nervously in the Great Hall with the other first years, waiting for their letters. The castle was very quiet as Alaw walked along, but she was grateful for she didn't much want to be pestered about the events in the dungeons. Ron had told her that most of the school was still ignorant of the details, but almost all knew she had been involved in some way.

As Alaw approached the Grand Staircase, Professors Snape and Lupin appeared around a corner. The two were deep in conversation but when they saw Alaw, they paused. It felt strange to look at Snape's pale visage and feel no fear. He still sneered in an unpleasant manner and after saying something curt to Lupin, he turned and swept out on the stairs and vanished. Lupin smiled warmly at Alaw, an expression of great pride on his face.

"Alaw, how are you? Feeling any better?" he asked, coming over to her.

"Yes thanks, I'm nearly off my potions. I suppose I should thank Professor Snape," Alaw said ruefully. And apologise, she reminded herself and she grimaced. She didn't want to have to tell her head of house that she'd suspected him for several months of colluding with Voldemort. Lupin chuckled at her scowl.

"Professor Dumbledore told me what you did in the dungeons, how you fought off the Dementor," he said and Alaw felt her cheeks growing red.

"I – don't think I'm amazing at Patronus' now," she said quickly. "It was just in the heat of the moment I think, otherwise I would never have managed."

"Of course, many wizards find that they can perform magic they would never have dreamed of under the right conditions. Tell me, what form did your Patronus take?"

"A dragon," Alaw mumbled, now definitely embarrassed and Lupin's eyes went wide.

"Truly?" he asked. "That is very unusual, Patronus' don't usually take the form of magical creatures. Though I can see that a dragon is quite fitting. Oh, and I have something for you,"

Lupin reached into his teacher's bag and drew out the invisibility cloak.

"There it is!" Alaw cried happily, taking it from him with a grin. "I was worried the Ministry had nicked it whilst I was unconscious!"

"I took it to prevent that from happening," Lupin admitted. "Be a little more careful with my gift in the future, won't you?"

"Yeah ok – wait what?! Your gift? It was you!"

"Indeed," Lupin said, smiling. "It once belonged to a great friend of mine, but then he passed it on to me and I've been keeping it safe. But then I have no need for it these days and I thought Hogwarts was due some new misfits."

Alaw grinned widely and tucked the cloak safely into her bag. She accompanied Lupin downstairs to the Entrance Hall which was buzzing with students comparing their exam results. Alaw spotted her friends just inside the doors to the Great Hall and she was about to join them when she bumped into someone else she'd been meaning to talk to.

"Watch where you're going mudblood," drawled Draco Malfoy, brushing himself down with a wrinkled nose.

"Can I have a word?" Alaw asked, ignoring this. Draco's eyes narrowed and then he looked carefully about to make sure nobody was listening.

"Fine, but only a quick one, I'm going down to Hogsmead with the boys in a minute," he said. Alaw led him over to a broom cupboard at the side of the hall and pulled the door almost closed behind them. Though not tiny, the cupboard was small enough that they stood only a foot apart. Once they were alone, Draco unfolded the newspaper he had tucked under his arm and held it up so that Alaw could see the front cover.

"So," he said, "I don't suppose this had anything to do with you?"

The headline read, DEMENTOR ATTACKS AT HOGWARTS SCHOOL! And under that, a picture of Fudge standing on the steps of the castle with the sub-heading, _Ministry cover-up?_ Alaw smiled evilly.

"Nothing what so ever," she said smugly.

"Apparently, someone anonymously tipped off the Prophet," Draco said, his eyebrows raised. "But of course, none of the victims can talk because they've had to sign nondisclosure agreements."

Alaw shrugged and Draco smirked at her.

"Well played Jones," he admitted. "Now, what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"I just wanted to thank you, if you hadn't raised the alarm I might have suffocated before anyone got to me," Alaw said. "You did a good job."

"Yeah, well," Draco looked uncomfortable now. "Don't tell anyone, alright? The last thing I need is my father hearing I helped a mudblood. And tell your friends to stop pestering me!"

"Will do," Alaw promised, and then she held out her hand for him to shake. Draco looked at it as though it was a poisonous spider. Alaw rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, just this once? Nobody's looking."

Draco squirmed but then he took her hand and shook it once. His palm was smooth and cool but he dropped it after only a second of contact.

"Well, have a good summer Jones," he said awkwardly before leaving the cupboard without a backwards glance.

Alaw collected her examination results from Professor McGonagall and got a pleasant surprise to see that she'd passed Charms and History of Magic with Outstandings. Professor Flitwick even came over to her to whisper that she'd come top of the year in his class and Alaw didn't stop blushing for a full ten minutes. She'd done quite well with Transfiguration, Herbology and Astronomy too, an Exceeds Expectations in each. She'd even managed a respectable Acceptable in Potions! But Defence Against the Dark Arts was a different story entirely. Alaw's heart sank as she gazed at the spiky black P on the parchment.

"Cheer up Al," Ron said, "Look, I got a Poor in that too."

Alaw had always known she would fail Defence Against the Dark Arts, it was her worst subject and she'd fluffed the exam, but it still made her feel demoralised. Alaw folded up her results and pocketed them miserably.

"Look, it's not like you have to take the exam again," Neville reminded her. "Lupin said you don't, because of your Patronus."

Alaw shrugged and looked expectantly at the golden plates in front of her. The entire school was now gathered in the Great Hall for the end of term feast, but the food was yet to arrive. Flora and her friends had offered for Alaw to sit with them at the Slytherin table, something they hadn't done all year, but Alaw had declined in favour of sitting with the Gryffindors. Though she was glad to be among her friends, Alaw still gazed a little wistfully over at her housemates, the Carrow twins reunited and Pansy Parkinson looking very sober. There was much talk in the Hall about the article in the Prophet and rumours were flying everywhere. Dean, Seamus and Lavender had already asked Alaw to recount exactly what had happened in the dungeons but she had kept the story deliberately vague, and she had left out Voldemort. The last thing she needed was for people to start thinking she was deranged. Dumbledore rose to his feet up at the staff table and the crowd fell silent, every face turned expectantly up.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have come to the end of another year," Dumbledore said, his voice ringing around the stone walls. "It has been a very trying year to be sure, but it brings me great joy to see all the victims restored to full health and back amongst us. None of this would be possible without the efforts of a few brave students."

Almost every head turned towards the Gryffindor table where Alaw felt like she wanted to hide behind Ron, whose ears had gone red.

"In light of this, I believe I have a few last minute house points to hand out, before we announce the winner of the cup," Dumbledore said and there was quite a bit of mutinous muttering amongst the Slytherins, who seemed to see exactly where this was going. As the points currently stood, they were meant to win by a margin of a hundred points, but it looked like Dumbledore was getting ready to screw them over.

"Firstly," Dumbledore called over the muttering. "To Miss Hermione Granger, for keen intellect and an eye for detail, I award fifty points."

Hermione looked shocked and the whole table erupted into applause.

"To Mister Ronald Weasley, for bravery and perseverance, I award fifty points."

Ron's ears were now so scarlet they matched his hair and Fred, who was sat next to him, thumped him on the back.

"To Mister Neville Longbottom, for a loyalty to his friends so fierce he was prepared to wrestle with Professor McGonagall – and loose – I award fifty points."

Everyone roared with laughter, especially Alaw who hadn't heard that part of the story yet. Neville hung his head but after glancing up at the staff table, Alaw saw that McGonagall was smiling. Gryffindor was now fifty points up, they would win the house cup. But Dumbledore wasn't finished yet. He raised a hand for quiet and then said,

"To Miss Alaw Jones, who has displayed the cunning so valued by Slytherin house, I award fifty points."

"What?" Alaw cried over the cheering, not just from her own house but from the others too. "But I asked him to let Gryffindor win!"

"I knew you were behind this!" Hermione crowed, clapping along with everyone else. A few people looked like they were trying to work out the maths but Dumbledore did it for them by saying,

"And so we have, for the first time in a century I believe, a tie for first place. I therefore have no choice but to award the house cup to both Slytherin and Gryffindor house!"

He clapped his hands and there was a gust of wind throughout the Great Hall. The banners hanging from the ceilings, which normally showed the Hogwarts crest, fluttered and changed colour. When they floated back into position, half of them were green and silver and the others were scarlet and gold. It was a better end to the year than Alaw could have possibly hoped for. Everyone ate and drank their fill before heading out into the village to celebrate for the first time in weeks. Alaw insisted on meeting up with Flora and her friends in Wizhard where they all proceeded to get very drunk. It was a little tense at first, the animosity between Slytherin and Gryffindor ran deep, but after a few drinks and a discovery that Tracy Davis and Lavender Brown were both equally obsessed with Gilderoy Lockhart – some sort of celebrity as far as Alaw could gather – things settled down.

Ron and Camron quickly got into a friendly argument about Quiddich, until Daphne Greengrass butted in and told them they were both wrong about how to execute a proper Sloth-Grip Roll, and that this was how one actually did it. Neville was the one to pull Alaw to one side and asked the question.

"Why did you ask Dumbledore to let Gryffindor win? Slytherin had every right to win outright this year!"

"Because you lot helped me, we wouldn't have gotten Hermione back if it weren't for you guys. And besides, I'm sick of Ron going on about that bloody Cleansweep Seven, this way he can just buy the damn thing and be done with it."

Now that everything was back to normal, Alaw almost didn't want term to end, but end it did. The next morning, nursing a hangover but mightily pleased with herself, Alaw dragged her trunk down to Hogsmead station along with the others. She and Hermione were back in their muggle clothes but it was now easy to ignore Theodore Knott's yelled insults. They found a compartment that was yet to be claimed and stashed their luggage in the over-head racks. Hagrid had come to see them off and he gathered all four of them into a hug, crushing the air out of their lungs as he did so.

"You have to come to mine over the summer," Ron said as the train gave a whistle and began to push off. "Mum'll love having you to stay."

"We'll see Ron, mum and dad are taking me to France for a couple of weeks first," Hermione said, waving to Hagrid through the window.

Alaw sat back and watched Hogwarts disappear behind the pine trees lining the lake, absently biting the head off a chocolate frog as she did so. She was glad to be going home, but she also couldn't wait to be back the following year.


End file.
